Kabbah landslide in S. Leone poll

President Kabbah is back in power with a landslide poll win

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Sierra Leone's president looked poised to win the country's first post-war election by a landslide -- with rebels out in the cold.

The result of Tuesday's polling brought hopes of stability in the West African nation ravaged by years of civil war.

Two more districts were counted by afternoon on Saturday, giving President Tejan Kabbah an insurmountable 66 percent of the votes.

His nearest challenger among eight challengers, Ernest Koroma, held 25 percent.

The results were from 12 of the nation's 14 districts. In the race is for 112 parliament seats, Kabbah's party has so far won 67, Ernest Koroma's party 27, and the party of one-time Sierra Leone junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma just two.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Ben Wedeman says voters began lining up hours before polls opened in Freetown, Sierra Leone (May 14) Play video Presidential elections provide first major test of Sierra Leone's peace. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports (May 14) Play video   MORE STORIES Reports from Sierra Leone native and cameraman Sorious Samura:  • Cry Freetown  (1999) • Return to Freetown  (January 2002)

National Electoral Commission chief Walter Nicol told The Associated Press that problems with the vote in the two remaining districts had led national vote officials to summon the districts' local election authorities to the capital.

The move meant delaying of the final results indefinitely.

Both districts still out are seen as areas of strong support for Kabbah and final results increasingly are expected to confirm a his victory with more than 55 percent of the votes, making a runoff unnecessary.

Sierra Leone's people voted eagerly and in high numbers, to decide the presidency and the parliament in the first election since Kabbah declared the war against a 10-year-old rebel insurrection over in January.

Under pressure from armed forces of the United Nations, Britain and neighbouring Guinea, tens of thousands of rebels disarmed last year.

Reconstituted as a political party, rebels have yet to pick up a single parliament seat in the elections.

Sierra Leone's rebels started fighting in 1991 to win control of the government and of diamond fields.

Their increasingly violent campaign killed tens of thousands of civilians. Countless more were maimed by what became the rebels' trademark -- hacking off their victims' hands, feet, lips and ears.