FREETOWN - Sierra Leoneans awaited on Saturday the results of landmark post-war elections widely expected to sweep President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and his party back to power, AFP said. Early results have put Kabbah and his Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) surging ahead in the polls, even though there were other strong contenders in Tuesday's presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the West African country's electoral commission has yet to announce the final results, missing a 72-hour deadline from the close of Tuesday's vote that it had set itself. It had aimed to announce the result by midnight Friday. The polls are the first since the end of a brutal 10-year war, in which up to 200,000 people are thought to have died, thousands had their limbs amputated or were kidnapped, raped or forcibly enrolled to fight in the war launched by rebels in 1991.

Radio reports have put Kabbah and the SLPP in the lead, notably in their southern strongholds, while Ernest bai-Koroma of the one-time sole political party in the country, all peoples congress (APC), was faring well in northern constituencies. In third place, according to results cited by the radio, was Johnny-Paul Koroma of the peace and Liberation Party, a former military ruler turned born-again Christian. In all, eight candidates challenged Kabbah for his job and a run-off round will have to be held unless the first-round winner takes more than 55 percent of the votes. On Friday a festival atmosphere had reigned as crowds gathered on freetown's rain-soaked streets, hoping to celebrate Kabbah's victory. People stood on street corners and shopping alleys discussing the event, some dressed in the Sierra Leone People's Party colour of green and shouting Kabbah's rallying cry of "one country, one people." The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, which began disarming after a peace pact last year, contested elections for the first time after transforming itself into the ruf party (RUFP). But unofficial results showed it had fared miserably in the vote. On Driday, the press had widely predicted a Kabbah win. The *** Daily Standard Times *** paper splashed a giant photo of Kabbah "among a jubilant crowd of SLPP supporters" on its front page, together with the headline: "Slpp in Victory Mood." The news reported an "earthquake victory for Kabbah".