On Aug. 11, hundreds of people were lined up hours before dawn, wrapping around buildings, waiting their turn.

But they weren't trying to buy the latest gadget or get tickets to a nearly sold-out show. They were getting ready to vote.

That was the scene witnessed by Mount Joy resident Ryan Musser when he traveled with a group to Sierra Leone to observe the country's first independent national election.

Musser, 20, returned Aug. 17 from the West African nation, where he and eight others met with locals and studied the election process.

Musser said he was impressed by the electorate's enthusiasm, especially when compared to the U.S., where turnout rarely reaches 50 percent of registered voters.

"We were shocked to find out how excited people were for us to be there," he said. "We would start rallies just by walking through town."

Musser went as part of an exchange trip planned by Micah Challenge, an international Christian organization that works with the poor and supports the United Nations' millenium development goals.

The eight goals, passed by the U.N. in 2000, aim to cut worldwide poverty in half by 2015.

Musser, an international relations major at Houghton College, said Micah Challenge aims to hold world leaders accountable in the effort to achieve the goals, which include eradicating hunger and establishing universal education.

By traveling to Sierra Leone, Musser said, the group hoped to encourage citizens to be active in the political process.

The group met with Christian leaders in Sierra Leone the week before the elections. Musser and the others also watched the country's first presidential and vice presidential debates.

This year's election represented the first time the country oversaw its own democratic process. In 2002, Sierra Leone held its first free election under the direct supervision of the U.N, after a bloody, decade-long civil war.

Musser, who has served on mission trips to Mexico and Peru, said he was surprised by the high unemployment and poverty in the country.

"...There are wealthy sections of the city, but you drive through Freetown (the capital), and the entire city is impoverished," he said.

In 2006, Sierra Leone ranked 176th among the list of 177 countries on the U.N.'s human development index, which compares the well-being of citizens in various nations by looking at indicators such as life expectancy, literacy rates and gross domestic product.

The Micah Challenge volunteers this year observed a number of polling stations and submitted a report to the country's electoral commission. They watched for irregularities such as ballot-stuffing and registration problems, but such occurrences were rare, Musser said.

He said faith was an important component of the group's work in Sierra Leone, where about 30 percent of the population is Christian and about 60 percent is Muslim.

"I think as Christians we have that mandate to be standing up for the poor and working for them," Musser said. "We had a broader mission that included the election observation but also included working toward advocacy in Sierra Leone."

Franklin & Marshall College English professor Patrick Bernard, a native of Sierra Leone, said he thinks the election has been encouraging so far, largely thanks to the strength of the country's independent electoral commission.

"So far I think it's been very peaceful and quite beyond the expectations of many people, who were thinking there would be many disturbances," Bernard said. "It seems we are nurturing a democratic culture."

Bernard, who has lived in the U.S. since 1993, was not able to vote in the election, but he said he has been watching it very closely.

He said he was impressed by the lack of interference from either party in the election process.

"Five years ago, internationally (Sierra Leone) was known for this very brutal war. ...And then just five years after that, we've come to this stage," he said. "I see those extremes, and see that possibly there is hope for the future of the country."

The All People's Congress, the main opposition party, won the landmark election by claiming 59 of the 112 seats in parliament.

The ruling Sierra Leone People's Party lost 40 seats, down from the 83 it has held.

The presidential race will go to a run-off.

Opposition leader Ernest Koroma took 44.3 per cent of the vote in his bid to succeed outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

Koroma will take on Vice President Soloman Berewa, who polled 38.3 percent. The fact that no candidate reached 55 percent of the vote means a new poll next month.

Veteran politician Charles Margai, who defected from Kabbah's People's Party when it chose Berewa as its candidate, said he would throw his People's Movement for Democratic Change behind Koroma on a join campaign tour.

Turnout was a record 78.5 percent.

CONTACT US: mingerson@LNPnews.com