S.Leone to hold presidential run-off on Sept 8

FREETOWN, Aug 25 (Reuters) Sierra Leone will hold a presidential election run-off on Sept 8 after no candidate won 55 percent of the vote in the first round, the West African country's electoral commission said today.

Main opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC) captured 44.3 per cent in the first round and Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) won 38.3 per cent, official final results showed.

Veteran politician Charles Margai of the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), regarded as a potential kingmaker in the second round, won 13.9 per cent of the Aug 11 vote.

''It is widely acknowledged that the results are credible and that the elections have been conducted in a manner that is free, fair and transparent,'' National Electoral Commission president Christiana Thorpe said as she announced the results.

''The NEC will do everything in its power to ensure that the run-off election is also credible and something that the people of Sierra Leone will be proud of.'' Margai, a veteran politician, defected from the ruling SLPP when it chose Berewa as its presidential candidate. Margai has said he will throw his weight behind Koroma on a joint campaign tour for the second round.

But many of Margai's followers are former SLPP supporters and it is not certain all of them will back Koroma, meaning the run-off with Berewa is likely to be a closely-fought contest.

The election is the first since United Nations peacekeepers left Sierra Leone two years ago following a 1991-2002 civil war.

They are regarded as a test of the country's recovery from more than a decade of brutality.

REUTERS RAR VC1645