Sierra Leone: Opposition Leads in Early Election Results

16 August 2007
allAfrica.com
By François Gouahinga

Dakar — Early results from Sierra Leone's presidential elections show that opposition candidate Ernest Koroma has a narrow lead over his closest rival, Vice-President Solomon Berewa. Votes from one third of polling stations have been counted.

Results released by the country's National Electoral Commission at 15h00 on Wednesday credit Koroma, of the All People's Congress (APC), with 46 percent, or 297,206 of the 643,777 votes counted so far.

Berewa, candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party's (SLPP), pulled 35 percent, or 227,353 votes. Charles Margai of the People's Movement for Democratic Change comes a distant third, with 15 percent, or 97,669 votes.

A candidate needs 55 percent of the vote to win outright. If the current trend continues, a run-off election will be scheduled for the weeks to come.

The electoral commission reported that at the polling stations for which votes have been counted so far, 75 percent of voters cast ballots.

More Sierra Leone Election coverage

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