SIERRA LEONE SPECIAL

SIERRA Leone is due to go the polls on Tuesday to pick a new president, but a court case could delay the vote -

Following a campaign marked by violence and ethnics division.

The West African nation's 3.1 million voters will chose between the ruling AII Peoples' Congress [APC] candidate Samura Kamara and opposition Sierra Leone People's Party [SLPP] contender Julius Maada Bio.

Bio, a former junta leader, won by just 15,000 votes in the March 7 first round, but failed to attain the 55 percent of ballots needed to win outright, triggering a run-off.

Turnout was over 80 percent.

With the vote on a knife edge, the National Grand Coalition [NGC] and Coalition for Change [C4C] , who together took just over 10 percent of votes, have not directed supporters to back either candidate.

A rally by the ruling party in Freetown on Saturday attracted few supporters following a High Court decision to put the vote on hold as it considers an election fraud complaint by an APC-linked lawyer.

Saturday's order prevents the National Electoral Commission [NEC] from going ahead with the vote until ''the hearing and determination of this court'', which will sit again on Monday.

Kamara told AFP on the campaign trail he was ''looking forward to the court ensuring that NEC clears all the discrepancies and irregularities of the March 7 election before the run-off.''

President Ernest Bai Koroma, who cannot run again after consecutive five year terms, had anointed Kamara as his successor.

International and domestic observers declared the vote credible, leading critics to accuse the APC of buying time through the courts.

[Agencies]