EC-SL Media, January 26, 2026
The Acting Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC) and Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (EC-SL), Edmond Sylvester Alpha was hosted by the Chief Election Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of India (ECI), Sh. Gyanesh Kumar, in a bilateral meeting, organised for heads of EMBs during the conference.
As India has assumed the Chair of the Council of Member States of International IDEA for 2026, India’s Chairmanship will be led by the ECI Chairman and supported by the Indian International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM).
During the bilateral meeting with Mr Edmond Slyvster Alpha, Chairman Sh. Gyanesh Kumar, in his words, presented the following 3 offers to the Ag. CEC and Chairman:
1. The adaptation and use of India’s ECINET application for the Sierra Leone elections. EC India is ready and willing to send ICT experts to Sierra Leone to develop and even better the ECINET to better suit the Sierra Leone context.
2. The operations of IIIDEM as the world’s largest training institute for democracy and elections be open to ECSL officials. According to the ECI Chairman, the institute has a 90-bed capacity, state of the art facility ready to host election experts on training in diverse fields.
3. A team of ECI experts to visit Sierra Leone to share best practices in agreed areas of interest.
In his response, Mr Edmond Slyvster Alpha was very elated and not surprised at the above gestures and reminded the ECI Chairman that India had provided indelible ink for voting in elections and capacity building opportunities for some EC-SL staff in the past and Mr Alpha joyously welcomed the offers and assured him that ECSL will work towards that in a bid to further strengthen the mutual bilateral ties that exist between the two EMBs and countries through a MoU that already exists in draft form, which hopefully will be signed.
The ECI Chairman presented an Indian painted artwork to the Ag. Chairman as a symbol of friendship from the host to the guest.
Meanwhile, Ag. CEC and Chairman Edmond Sylvester Alpha held separate and informal bilateral talks with the CECs and Chairmen of INEC Nigeria (Amupitan Joash Ojo) and IEBC Kenya (Erastus Edung Ethekon) on areas of collaboration between ECSL and the other EMBs.
From the view of Edmond Sylvester Alpha, the stages have been set to accelerate EC-SL’s pathway to development in international collaboration and partnerships.
