(8 Sep 2007) SHOTLIST
1. People lined up outside polling station
2. Military police monitoring security
3. Polling centre staff showing empty boxes just before centres open
4. Polling worker sealing ballot box
5. Close-up of box being sealed
6. Various shots of people voting
7. Set-up shot of voter
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yambasu Kambara, Voter:
"We are hoping for the better, and I believe that with each stage people are so matured now that they can make a meaningful political decision. And we must respect the views of the majority of Sierra Leoneans."
9. Sierra Leone Vice President, Solomon Berewa, voting
10. Opposition leader, Ernest Koroma, entering polling station
11. Koroma casting vote
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ernest Koroma, opposition leader:
"To let the people know that all is not well. There are still issues that are fundamental that have still not been addressed. And these issues will at the end of the day determine whether these elections are credible or not."
13. Close-up of presidential ballot box
STORYLINE:
Sierra Leonians voted to choose a new president on Saturday, a runoff to elect the country's first new leader since UN peacekeepers withdrew two years ago.
The poll took place against the backdrop of a tense electoral campaign that saw political rivals clash with fists and stones.
Observers view the election as a chance to measure whether Sierra Leone, still recovering from a decade of war that ended in 2002, can truly stand on its own and transfer power peacefully.
Opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma, 54, is running against Vice President Solomon Berewa, 69, of the ruling party.
After casting his vote in the capital, Freetown, Koroma told reporters there are still fundamental issues to be addressed.
"And these issues will at the end of the day determine whether these elections are credible or not."
Berewa also cast his vote in Freetown, complaining that police "manhandled" some of his party's polling monitors and beat up a member of his security team taking his mother to vote.
Turnout appeared much lower than the first round August 11, with only small queues at polling stations in Freetown.
Voters who turned up said others stayed home because they feared violence.
In the first round, Koroma won 44 percent of the vote, compared with 38 percent for Berewa.
Both men fell short of the 55 percent needed to win in the first round.
On Saturday, a simple majority will suffice for victory.
Trailing third was lawyer and former Cabinet minister Charles Francis Margai, with 14 percent.
Margai's party broke away from the governing coalition and is backing Koroma.
Sierra Leone has struggled to rebuild since the war's end, and corruption within the current government is seen as a serious drag on economic growth.
Fighting graft and easing massive unemployment are major issues in the vote.
Transparency International ranks Sierra Leone one of the most corrupt nations in the world, 148th out of 163 surveyed.
A government-appointed anti-corruption commission was established, but has so far done little to end graft, observers say.

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