Monrovia - The former warlord, Mr Charles Taylor, the man who launched Liberia's civil war, took an early lead in the race for the presidency yesterday, with 62.38 per cent of votes counted, the electoral commission said.
His nearest rival, a former UN official, Ms Ellen JohnsonSirleaf, had 18.10 per cent of the vote so far in Saturday's poll, the commission chairman said.
Meanwhile, Mali went to the polls yesterday to elect a new national assembly in a re-run of an abandoned election in April as observers voiced concern over possible violence.
