Mohammed Conteh, Head of the Sierra Leone Elections Commission

In a last-minute decision, Sierra Leone’s Supreme Court on Monday postponed a hotly contested presidential election run-off by four days.

The run-off vote is now scheduled for March 31 instead of March 27, the court ruled after receiving a request for a postponement from the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

The NEC requested the delay after a high court lifted an interim injunction placed on the vote on Monday afternoon, only leaving a few hours for the commission to prepare for the run-off.

The high court had temporarily paused the vote due to fraud claims by a member of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC).

The run-off will see opposition candidate Julius Bio face off against ruling party candidate Samura Kamara, after no candidate reached 55 per cent of the votes needed to win in the first round on March 7. (dpa/NAN)