Final results due in Mali poll

Keita has called on the court to be 'honest'

Mali's Constitutional Court is due to announce the official results of the first round of last month's disputed presidential election later on Thursday.

The interior ministry has already released provisional figures, but the court has said its independent assessment may give a different result.

Interior Ministry results

Amadou Toumani Toure: 28%

Soumaila Cisse: 23%

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita: 21%

Turnout: 39%

The government's figures show that General Amadou Toumani Toure, will face the ruling Adema party's Soumaila Cisse, in the second round of the ballot to be held next Sunday.

The former Prime Minister, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has lodged a complaint alleging massive fraud and vote manipulation, has not reached the second round.

The BBC's Joan Baxter in Mali says that in the run-up to the announcement, tension was mounting in the capital, Bamako, with heavy security in place around the court.

Several other candidates have also lodged complaints with the courts.

'Frustrated'

Earlier in the week, the Independent Electoral Commission staged a late-night visit to the interior ministry, following allegations that tally sheets were being manipulated.

The Electoral Commission then wrote to the interior minister, expressing concerns that vote-counting was being carried out without tally sheets.

Will the court confirm Toure's lead?

International observers have agreed not to make any public comments until final results are in.

But David Pottie, head of the team of observers from the Carter Centre in the United States, says the observers were "frustrated" that they had only had "ad hoc" access to the counting process, particularly the computer facilities where results were being tallied in the Interior Ministry.

But a definitive decision about the legality of the elections rests exclusively with the Constitutional Court.

Mali has been seen as a model democracy in Africa.

President Alpha Oumar Konare is not standing after serving the two terms he is allowed by the constitution.