Observers see Sierra Leone vote as free and fair

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FREETOWN, Aug 13 (AFP): Sierra Leone's watershed presidential and legislative elections were free and fair, international observers said Sunday as ballot counting progressed across the west African country.
A day after the first post-war Sierra Leonean-driven elections, seen as a test of whether the nation has fully emerged from its bloody civil war, the Commonwealth group of observers said the vote met international standards.
"We are inclined to believe that the conditions were such as to enable the people of Sierra Leone to express their will freely and in accordance with internationally accepted standards," Commonwealth observer chief Kenny Anthony said.
Voters came out in droves to peacefully cast ballots Saturday to choose a new leader to succeed President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and a fresh set of lawmakers to fill the 112-seat parliament