The Acting Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC) and Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), Edmond Sylvester Alpha, has held a bilateral engagement with the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India (ECI), Shri Gyanesh Kumar, as efforts intensify to strengthen preparations for Sierra Leone’s 2028 General Elections.
The meeting took place on Friday, 23 January 2026, during an international conference for Heads of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), where global election leaders gathered to exchange experiences and explore cooperation on strengthening democratic processes.
The engagement comes at a time when 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), a major institution dedicated to training and research in democracy and electoral governance.
During the discussions, Shri Gyanesh Kumar made three significant offers aimed at supporting ECSL in its preparations for credible, peaceful and transparent elections.
First, the ECI Chairman offered technical support for Sierra Leone to adapt and use India’s ECINET application in the administration of elections. He said India is ready to dispatch ICT experts to Sierra Leone to develop and improve the ECINET system to meet local conditions and enhance operational efficiency.
“India is ready and willing to send ICT experts to Sierra Leone to develop and even better the ECINET to appropriately suit the Sierra Leone context,” Shri Gyanesh Kumar assured.
Secondly, the ECI Chairman pledged full access for ECSL officials to benefit from the training opportunities of IIIDEM, which he described as the world’s largest training institute for democracy and elections. He said the facility has a 90-bed capacity and modern infrastructure designed to host election experts from across the globe for specialized training in a wide range of electoral fields.
Thirdly, he promised that a team of ECI experts would be available to visit Sierra Leone to share best practices and provide technical guidance in mutually agreed priority areas ahead of the 2028 elections.
Responding, Edmond Sylvester Alpha expressed delight at the gesture, noting that the offers reflect India’s longstanding commitment to supporting Sierra Leone’s democratic development. He reminded the ECI Chairman that India had previously provided crucial electoral materials, including indelible ink and supported capacity-building programmes for ECSL staff.
Edmond Sylvester Alpha welcomed the proposed support and assured the ECI leadership of ECSL’s commitment to deepening collaboration between the two electoral institutions. He added that both sides are working toward formalizing cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which currently exists in draft form and is expected to be signed in due course.
As a symbol of friendship and partnership, the ECI Chairman presented an Indian painted artwork to the ECSL Acting Chairman, describing it as a gesture of goodwill from host to guest.
Meanwhile, Edmond Sylvester Alpha also held separate informal engagements with counterparts from the region, including Nigeria’s INEC Chairman, Amupitan Joash Ojo and Kenya’s IEBC Chairman, Erastus Edung Ethekon, discussing areas of possible collaboration and shared electoral learning.
From the perspective of the ECSL Acting Chairman, the engagements have set the stage for stronger international partnerships and accelerated institutional development, positioning ECSL to benefit from global best practices as the Commission prepares for the 2028 General Elections.
