Sierra Leone opposition wins poll

Voters showed great enthusiasm for the poll

The main opposition party, All Peoples' Congress (APC), has won parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone.

APC won 59 of the 112 parliamentary seats, defeating the governing Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), with 43.

A run-off in the presidential election between the two parties' candidates is scheduled for next month.

The landmark elections, which are intended to move the country past the legacy of the recent civil war, were considered free and fair by observers.

Victory for the APC sees a return to power of the party which governed Sierra Leone for two decades before the decade-long civil war that started in 1991.

The conflict claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and left many others mutilated and traumatised.

The governing SLPP is credited with helping to end the civil war, but is blamed for widespread corruption and economic mismanagement.

King-maker

The presidential election will see a run-off between the APC candidate, Ernest Bai Koroma, who took 44% of the vote in the first round, and the SLPP candidate and Vice-President Solomon Berewa, who polled 38%.

The outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won the election easily five years ago with 70% of the votes, but these elections have been a disappointment for the SLPP.

The BBC's West Africa correspondent Will Ross says the governing party had predicted another easy victory but it under-estimated the level of resentment in Sierra Leone over a perceived lack of development since the end of the war and high levels of corruption.

Charles Margai, who broke off from the SLPP, was third with 14%, and his votes could play a deciding role in the run-off.

More than 75% of registered voters took part in what were the first elections to be organised by Sierra Leoneans since the end of a lengthy civil war five years ago.

Our correspondent says the elections were praised by international observers, and many Sierra Leoneans have a sense of pride at this exercise in democracy.