Sierra Leoneans choose a president this weekend, a crucial measure of the diamond-rich country's prospects for stability following a 10-year war, voting after a campaign that saw clashes among political rivals, AP reported. Saturday's runoff pits opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma, 54, against current Vice President Solomon Berewa, 69. In the initial voting on Aug. 11, the first presidential race since peacekeepers withdrew two years ago, both men fell short of winning the required 55 percent of the needed to avoid a second round. On Saturday, a simple majority will suffice for victory. Incumbent President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was prevented by term limits from running for a third five-year term. Koroma led a field of seven in Aug. 11 poll with 44 percent of the vote, compared to 38 percent for Berewa. Trailing third was lawyer and former minister Charles Francis Margai with 14 percent. Margai, whose party broke away from the governing coalition, is backing Koroma and his support could prove decisive. Koroma's opposition All People's Congress party has already won a majority in the 112-seat parliament, taking 59 seats, compared with Berewa's Sierra Leone People's Party, which won 43 seats. Incumbent Kabbah is credited with keeping the country stable since the war's end. But his Vice President Berewa, whose political platform is «continuity for positive development,» carries the weight of perceptions the governing party has failed to combat corruption.
