3–13 Nov 2028
Final result window, derived from the last election. Treat as final after Freetown time.
- Polls close
- First count by
- Counted by
- Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone
- Results page
ec.gov.sl
Sierra Leone runoff 2028
Polling day Date not yet official. Counted by Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone. Times are Freetown time; hover for UTC.
Held only if no presidential candidate on 12 Oct 2028 polls at least 55% of the valid votes (Constitution s.42(2)(e)). Then the two candidates with the most votes 'go forward to a second election which shall be held within fourteen days of the announcement of the result of the previous election', and whoever polls more votes is declared President (s.42(2)(f)). The law sets no deadline for announcing the first-round result (Public Elections Act 2022 s.51(2): 'as soon as possible'), so it gives no fixed latest date. 1 Nov 2028 is an ESTIMATE: the first-round announcement assumed on day 6 (18 Oct), as in 2018 (7 Mar vote, 13 Mar announcement), plus the 14 days. If the announcement comes on day 3, as in 2023, the latest lawful date is 29 Oct. In 2018 the runoff was set for exactly 14 days after the announcement (27 Mar). The Supreme Court moved it to Sat 31 Mar after a High Court injunction (Africanews, 12 Apr 2018). A pending constitutional amendment, unsigned on 2 Oct 2026, would replace the 55% rule with 50% plus one vote. Press reports also mention a district-spread condition. A runoff would remain if those conditions were not met. Parliament has no second round.
Count stages
2 Nov9 Nov
Election-night count
Election-night count: Wed 1 Nov, 17:00 → Sat 4 Nov, 23:59, estimate.
Final result
Final result: Fri 3 Nov, 00:00 → Mon 13 Nov, 23:59, precedent.
Stage windows and their sources
- Election-night count→estimatePolls close at 17:00 local (Public Elections Act 2022 s.50(1)), 17:00 UTC; Sierra Leone keeps GMT all year. ESTIMATE from the 2023 first round, when ECSL released partial results on day 2 (Al Jazeera, 26 Jun 2023). No runoff has been held under the 2022 Act. The window closes at the end of day 3. Partial figures, not the declared result.
- Final result→precedentThe National Returning Officer declares the result 'as soon as possible' (Public Elections Act 2022 s.51(2)); no statutory deadline. Precedent: the 2018 runoff of Sat 31 Mar was declared 'four days after the vote', on 4 Apr 2018, and the winner was sworn in hours later (Africanews, 12 Apr 2018). The 2023 first round was declared on day 3 (ECSL statement of 27 Jun 2023). The window opens at the start of day 2, an ESTIMATED floor. It closes at the end of day 12, three times the 2018 runoff span, because the law sets no deadline. The candidate with more votes is declared President (Constitution s.42(2)(f)). A voter may petition the Supreme Court within 7 days of the declaration (Act s.54(1)), but no court confirmation is required, so there is no court-validation stage.
Results sources
| URL | Role | Kind | Can answer a results question | Last check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ec.gov.sl/declarations/ | results-final | other | no | |
| constituteproject.org/constitution/Sierra_Leone_2013 | timetable | other | no | |
| sierralii.gov.sl/akn/sl/act/2022/17/eng@2022-09-20 | timetable | other | no | |
| africanews.com/2018/04/12/recap-2-sierra-leone-s-2018-general-elections-the-twists-and-turns/ | see-also | other | no | |
| riotimesonline.com/sierra-leone-constitutional-reform-supreme-court-bio-2026/ | see-also | other | no | |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Sierra_Leone | see-also | other | no | |
| ec.gov.sl | authority-home | emb home | no |
Cite, embed, correct
Global Election Index, “Sierra Leone runoff 2028”, https://electionindex.org/election/sierra-leone-general-2028-r2, dataset 2026-10-02.be7d6f40. CC BY 4.0.
Embed code
<iframe src="https://electionindex.org/embed/election/sierra-leone-general-2028-r2" title="Sierra Leone runoff 2028: when the result is final (Global Election Index)" width="100%" height="320" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>
Questions and answers
- When is the Sierra Leone runoff 2028?
- Polling day is 2028-11-01, not yet officially confirmed. Held only if no presidential candidate on 12 Oct 2028 polls at least 55% of the valid votes (Constitution s.42(2)(e)). Then the two candidates with the most votes 'go forward to a second election which shall be held within fourteen days of the announcement of the result of the previous election', and whoever polls more votes is declared President (s.42(2)(f)). The law sets no deadline for announcing the first-round result (Public Elections Act 2022 s.51(2): 'as soon as possible'), so it gives no fixed latest date. 1 Nov 2028 is an ESTIMATE: the first-round announcement assumed on day 6 (18 Oct), as in 2018 (7 Mar vote, 13 Mar announcement), plus the 14 days. If the announcement comes on day 3, as in 2023, the latest lawful date is 29 Oct. In 2018 the runoff was set for exactly 14 days after the announcement (27 Mar). The Supreme Court moved it to Sat 31 Mar after a High Court injunction (Africanews, 12 Apr 2018). A pending constitutional amendment, unsigned on 2 Oct 2026, would replace the 55% rule with 50% plus one vote. Press reports also mention a district-spread condition. A runoff would remain if those conditions were not met. Parliament has no second round.
- When will the final result of the President race be official?
- Expected between 2028-11-03T00:00:00Z and 2028-11-13T23:59:59Z (UTC), confidence precedent. The National Returning Officer declares the result 'as soon as possible' (Public Elections Act 2022 s.51(2)); no statutory deadline. Precedent: the 2018 runoff of Sat 31 Mar was declared 'four days after the vote', on 4 Apr 2018, and the winner was sworn in hours later (Africanews, 12 Apr 2018). The 2023 first round was declared on day 3 (ECSL statement of 27 Jun 2023). The window opens at the start of day 2, an ESTIMATED floor. It closes at the end of day 12, three times the 2018 runoff span, because the law sets no deadline. The candidate with more votes is declared President (Constitution s.42(2)(f)). A voter may petition the Supreme Court within 7 days of the declaration (Act s.54(1)), but no court confirmation is required, so there is no court-validation stage.
- Where are the official President results?
- No single-election results page is recorded yet. The counting authority is Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (https://ec.gov.sl/).