Sierra Leone heads for presidential runoff Tuesday March 27,2018

Sierra Leone will hold a runoff vote for president on Tuesday March 27, 2018the election commission said Tuesday, after the country's main opposition finished slightly ahead of the ruling party in the first round of voting.

Opposition leader Julius Maada Bio, from the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), took 43.3 percent of votes in the March 7 election, while Samura Kamara of the incumbent All Peoples Congress (APC) took 42.7 percent, the commission said.

The two parties dominate Sierra Leone's politics and have ruled alternately since independence from Britain in 1961.

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

Third party candidate Kandeh Yumkella finished with just 6.9 percent of votes despite his National Grand Coalition (NGC) party's hopes of an electoral breakthrough.