Sierra Leoneans thronged polling stations on Saturday to vote in a close-fought election they hope can rebrand their poor, war-scarred West African state as an emerging democracy with the potential for fast growth from mining and oil.
Election officials and observers reported a large and enthusiastic turnout in the presidential and parliamentary polls, with eager crowds of voters overwhelming polling stations from the moment they opened in the steamy seaside capital Freetown and across the nation.
In Saturday's ballot, incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma and his ruling All People's Congress faced a determined challenge from Julius Maada Bio, a former junta leader who represents the Sierra Leone People's Party.
The vote is expected to be close. Former insurance executive Koroma, 59, who wrested the presidency from the SLPP in a hotly disputed 2007 vote, is considered the narrow favourite. Bio, a 48-year-old retired army brigadier, was involved in two military takeovers in the turbulent 1990s.
It was the third national vote held since the end of a 1991-2002 civil war that gave Sierra Leone international notoriety as a "blood diamonds" battleground for rebels and child soldiers.
It passed off with no major disruptions or violence reported and some voters said they could not remember a more peaceful election day. "Everything is now 1,000 per cent better than the dark days of the war," said former soldier Ibrahim Sesay, 64.
As dusk fell, the painstaking task of counting ballots by hand was under way in the more than 9,000 polling stations across the country.
