Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has won 44.5 percent of votes counted so far in the West African country's election, which put the newly-named Nobel Peace laureate well ahead of closest rival Winston Tubman on 26.5 percent. It is, however, not enough to avoid a second-round run-off against the former top UN diplomat early next month.

National Election Commission chairman James Fromayah told a news conference the tally was based on 195,178 valid ballots counted so far in Sunday's election, for which 1.8 million Liberians were registered to vote.

Former rebel leader Prince Johnson, now a senator in rural Nimba county, came third. His score was initially read out as 19.5 percent but a written statement from the Commission later put it at 13.5 percent, a result which could still make his endorsement a key factor for the second round.

"If there is a run-off, I will get to my constituencies to ask them which way to go. Based on what they will tell me, I will then make a decision, but for now, I cannot say anything," Prince Johnson said.

No formal complaints
Fromayah said there had been no formal complaints from any candidate so far, but added that Tubman had made what he called an unsubstantiated, unofficial complaint of some ballot boxes being broken into. "Our people are concerned about the result that is coming out. We are still waiting to see. For now, we will wait. In the overall, we are pursuing our complaints," he said.

Liberia's constitution allows authorities up to 15 days to finalize results after a presidential election. Turnout at the 737 polling stations counted so far - around 16.5 percent of the total - was just over 70 percent.

Test case
The vote is seen as a test of Liberia's progress since the 1989-2003 civil war killed nearly a quarter of a million people and left infrastructure in ruins. If smooth, the election could pave the way to billions of dollars in investment in Liberia's mining, energy and agriculture sectors.

"We are all waiting for the results, and from my perspective, I think they will be accepted," said Amadou Kante, a resident of the Sinkor neighbourhood in the capital Monrovia.

Voting peaceful
Voting on Tuesday passed off peacefully in Monrovia. Observer groups said they had received no reports of trouble elsewhere in the country of four million people, but have expressed concern that the results could be a flashpoint. A dispute over the results of the 2005 election, which brought Johnson-Sirleaf to power as Africa's first freely elected female head of state, triggered several days of rioting.

"The mission is of the view that there were no major irregularities and incidents of violence. It estimated that on the whole, the elections of October 11, 2011 were conducted under acceptable conditions of freedom of voters and transparency of the process," said Attahiru Jega, head of the observer mission from West African bloc ECOWAS.

Pre-poll boost
Election watchdog the Carter Center said voting in the election was "peaceful, orderly and remarkably transparent" and urged Liberians to be patient ahead of official results. Johnson-Sirleaf got a pre-poll boost with her award of the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday, but rivals have said Liberians will judge her on her success in fighting poverty in a country with an average annual income of 215 euro a head.

Source: Reuters