Sierra Leone's general election has been moving calm and peaceful since kicked off early Saturday.

Incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People' Congress (APC) cast his vote at Goderich in the rural area of the capital Freetown, saying he was satisfied with the turnout and process of the polling exercise.

Koroma, who arrived at 00:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT) clad in a flowing white gown and accompanied by his wife, Sia Koroma, was greeted with deafening cheers by thousands of voters waiting patiently to cast their vote.

Responding to the cheers, Koroma told his teeming supporters, "I am assured of victory."

The main contestant to the incumbent president, Julius Maada Bio, who had voted earlier at Fudia Terrace in Wilberforce village at 10:00 a.m. (1000 GMT), looked and sounded confident.

"I am confident of success. At the end of the day, victory will be on my side," he told his cheering party faithful.

On the whole, the people turned out massively to exercise their democratic right, and both local and international observers, particularly from the African Union, the European Union (EU), the Carter Center and the Economic Community of West African States, among others, said they were very impressed with the conduct of the elections.

The EU chief observer, Richard Howitt, noticed a very high enthusiasm on the part of the voters, some of whom started queuing as early as 2:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) to await their turn to vote.

He told Xinhua, "There was a good atmosphere wherever we went," and commended the national election staff for their high sense of professionalism.

The Commonwealth chief observer, Ollara Ottunu, asked Sierra Leoneans to be proud of themselves because the voting was smooth and peaceful.

He said his team had visited the entire western area of Freetown and their perception was that "there has been no major concern reported."

Chief Outreach National Election, Albert Massaquoi, told Xinhua in an interview that the situation remained stable although there were problems in some areas.

This election is very crucial to the democratic process of Sierra Leone and its development, as it is the first to be conducted by the people themselves without foreign intervention.

While eight political parties are contesting Saturday's election, the contest is widely expected to be narrowed down to incumbent President Koroma and his main rival Maada Bio of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

Polling was scheduled to end at 5:00 p.m. (1700 GMT). The results of the parliamentary and local council elections will start coming in on Saturday night, while the outcome of the presidential polls will be announced within 10 days after all the results have been received, Electoral Commissioner Elizabeth Thorpe said.