Violence rock Liberia polls

Polling stations closed in Liberia, yesterday, after a presidential runoff in which incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is poised to win a second term after her closest rival boycotted the vote, citing fraud concerns.

"There were no incidents reported from the various polling places and all have already closed at 6pm (18GMT)," Joseph Yassiah, spokesman of the electoral commission, said on yesterday.

Yassiah said he could not yet comment on the voter turnout, but news agencies had reported earlier that the effect of the boycott by Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) was evident in the visibly reduced voter queues.

Some polling stations had no more than a dozen people waiting to cast their ballots.

Some polling stations closed before the published time on Tuesday evening, when it became clear that no more voters would show up.

At four polling stations in the West Point area of the capital, the turnout was devastatingly low - with only 83 ballots cast out of 383 registered voters at one, for example, representing just 21 percent voter turnout.

Human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday called for an independent and impartial investigation into possible human rights abuses during the election period after several people died in clashes between police and opposition supporters in Monrovia.