Many Sierra Leoneans have raised concern over the survey conducted by the Institute of Governance Reform (IGR). Andrew Lavalie, Executive Director of IGR, during the ‘Gud Morning Salone’ program aired on Radio Democracy on Friday 2nd June 2023, while explaining the survey undertaken by his organization, said that the ruling SLPP will win by some 53%, while the APC will get between 35 and 46%.
This survey has been questioned by many citizens, who say that with all the failed promises and hardship in the country, they do not see the Bio government making any serious headway, let alone talk of getting that huge percentage. Many furthered that if this were true, the attacks against opposition members in strongholds of the ruling party would not have happened, and the fact that they are happening is an indication that the SLPP is jittery about the growing popularity of the opposition candidate.
The head of the IGR, Andrew Lavaley, has been accused of only making money out of such surveys, and should not be taken seriously. According to some concerned citizens, the said survey has the potential to create problems among political parties. In their view, if the SLPP loses the elections in June, it might use IGR’s survey as justification for challenging the result, claiming that an independent survey puts them in the lead and winning the elections. Furthermore, should a party fail to get the projected percentage in the areas surveyed by the IGR, there is the possibility that they could cry foul, and chaos could emerge. Cries of rigging will be everywhere, and the parties will all be making reference to the survey.
Many maintained that whilst understanding that a survey does not necessarily mean taking the entire population, but random sampling, those surveys are not conclusive, and should not be released under the current tense situation in the country, with every party ready to use the slightest opportunity to cry foul, if things do not go in their favor.
Some have even accused the IGR of doing the survey to solicit funding. Many say that the survey has inadvertently given the result of the election, even before it commenced; and that no one has the right to make such pronouncement except the ECSL, and that in itself, is done only after all the votes cast have been counted. Some opposition party big wigs say that such a survey by the IGR could be an indication of what had already been planned by the ruling party, and the result released by Lavalie could be the projected figure of the alleged rigging that the government of Bio has arrived at. They furthered that Lavalie, is a Board Member in a government owned bank in the country, an appointment made by His Excellency, and therefore, believed to be an operative of the government
To further heighten the suspicion of the public, many accused him of being a Board Member of the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, appointed by President Bio, and one of the state owned Banks that pays dividend to it annually. Against this backdrop, many believe that he is doing this to please the government, and his survey is influenced by ethnic and partisan considerations.