President Julius Maada Bio is taking an early lead in the Saturday general elections in Sierra Leone, according to the electoral commission.

He’s so far received 56% of the half of the ballots while his rival, Samura Kamara got 42% of the ballots to his credit.

Saturday’s election, which is taking place against the backdrop of a struggling economy, rising living costs, and concerns about national unity, witnessed large turnout of voters across the country, including the capital, Freetown.

Some of the voters told the BBC that the procedure went well despite voting places opening hours late in many locations.

The poll came at the end of a chaotic campaign marked by several violent occurrences.

Earlier on Sunday, the presidential candidate of the Opposition All People’s Congress (APC), Samura Kamara said on Twitter that live bullets were fired by the police at his office inside the party headquarters.

While reacting to the allegation, the Sierra Leone Police, in a statement, clarified that members of the opposition party had paraded through Freetown announcing to the public that they had won the Saturday elections which is yet to be officially announced by the electoral umpire in the West African country.

The police also indicated that the opposition attracted “a huge crowd” of supporters outside the headquarters, who “started harassing passers-by”.

Meanwhile, the European Union Election Observation Mission said it was “concerned about the ongoing tabulation process”.

The mission blamed the electoral commission for a lack of transparency, while raising incidents of violence in some regions during the vote.

Final results of the poll are expected to be released by the electoral commission before the week runs out.