It was the third time the country was voting since the 1991-2002 bloody civil war.

Sierra Leoneans went to the polls on Saturday November 17 to elect their next President, Parliament and local government representatives. The BBC cited National Election Watch, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, as saying the voting went well, though with some delays in opening polling stations.

Long lines of voters braved the heat to vote. Observers praised the peaceful conduct of the election with voters waiting patiently to cast ballots, many of them having queued overnight. Early turn out was heavy in the business district of the capital, Freetown, Al Jazeera TV said.

After voting in Freetown, President Ernest Bai Koroma, said he was satisfied with the process and was assured of victory. His supporters point to strides made in the country's health care system through a programme that offers free medical aid. They also see hope for Sierra Leone because of several offshore oil discoveries made in the last three years.

Election officials pasted messages cautioning voters: "The world is watching us. Let us don't disappoint them," the AP news agency reported. Election workers slept overnight at polling stations as some voters began lining up at 2 a.m. in Freetown. The Chief Elections Officer, Christiana Thorpe, said while some polling stations opened late, problems were swiftly resolved. Richard Howitt, Chief Observer for the European Union Election Observation Mission, said there were bound to be flaws in the process but they had seen a very happy atmosphere with people enthusiastic to vote.

President Ernest Bai Koroma, 59, faced eight candidates, including ex-military leader, Julius Maada Bio, 48, in the poll that was closely monitored by several thousand local observers. It was the third general election since the 1991-2002 civil war that killed more than 50,000 people. It was however the first post-war election Sierra Leone was organising by itself - the other two having been run by the United Nations.

The three main parties were; President Koroma's All People's Congress, APC, Maada Bio's Sierra Leone People's Party, SLPP and the People's Movement for Democratic Change, PMDC of Charles Francis Margai. The political wing of the rebel Revolutionary United Front, RUF also contested the polls. The results have to be declared within 10 days after voting.