News have been parading on social media on Friday that the Chairman of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, Prince Alex Harding, has been removed as returning officer in the SLPP lower-level elections.
According to report, Harding removal was based on his alleged attempt to manipulate electoral votes in the election of the financial secretary. It is alleged that Harding attempted to rig the election in favour of another candidate, an act widely condemned by political commentators as blatant electoral fraud.
Few hours after the news, a public notice was issued by the Secretary General of the SLPP, Umaru Napoleon Koroma, setting the record straights.
According to the party press release, Prince Harding was among the officers assigned to oversee the party southern regional Executive Elections until when agitation raised by delegates over the conduct of one regional position. Prince Harding, according to the release, decided to step aside from the electoral process and promptly assigned four national officers to continue with the conduct of the election in the region.
The releases states categorically that the SLPP has never removed Prince Harding as returning officer, nor has there any attempt to rig any election during the voting for regional officers in the southern region. It is stated that the concerns raised by some of the delegates have been duly addressed.
“The Chairman and the Executive remain in full control of the process of our internal party elections and he will continue to to work assiduously to ensure that the process is peacefully and transparently concluded with the convening of the national delegates conference on the 30th and 31st July,2025, for the election of the national officers”.
The party encourages their members to stay focus on the task that lies ahead in 2028 to maintain the party in power.
