Sierra Leone election: Julius Maada Bio beats Samura Kamara in first round

A former military coup leader has won the first round of Sierra Leone's presidential election.

Julius Maada Bio secured 43.3% of the vote, short of the 55% he needed to avoid a second round run-off.

He will now face the ruling party candidate, Samura Kamara, who was behind by just 0.6%, in two weeks.

Should Brig Bio win that contest, it will be the second time he has led Sierra Leone, having briefly headed a military junta in 1996.

Brig Bio came to power after ousting Valentine Strasser – the soldier he had helped become Africa's youngest leader in another coup just four years earlier.

Three months later, he stood down in favour of the democratically elected Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

But he is not the only one with a strong a link to his short-lived military junta: Brig Bio chose his now rival Mr Kamara as his finance minister in 1996.

More than two decades later, the two men have stood against each other, offering the country different visions of their future, fought on the platforms of corruption, the economy and the state of the country's education and health.

According to our reporter in Freetown, Mr Kamara is offering the country the option of "continuation" – arguing the current administration is making strides forward which need to be built on.

Brig Bio, on the other hand, is the change candidate.(BBC)