FREETOWN (AFP) - Sierra Leone's local elections, seen as a popularity test for the government of President Ernest Koroma, were marked by low voter turnout Saturday after a campaign plagued with violence and intimidation.

In the capital Freetown only a hand full of people queued up after the polling stations opened at 7 am (0700 GMT).

"We want to cast our votes so that the incoming councillors and mayors will give us basic social amenities such as water and sanitation," a 68-year-old grandmother, Susan Sesay, standing in line to vote told AFP.

One of the poorest nations in the world, Sierra Leone is struggling to rebuild after a decade-long civil war (1991-2001) that left 120,000 people dead and tens of thousands mutilated.

In the last few weeks there have been reports of widespread violence and intimidation by alleged supporters of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) party and the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

Election officials reported that a number of mostly independent candidates had withdrawn from the vote, claiming they were harassed.

Saturday's vote may indicate whether voters are satisfied with Koroma's APC which came into power in September last year on an anti-corruption platform.

The previous SSLP government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who served 10 years in office, has been blamed for the corruption and economic mismanagement that have hampered the diamond-rich but desperately impoverished Sierra Leone.

Police were seen in Freetown Saturday checking people in line to vote and removed anyone seen to be wearing party colours.

The election commission had banned the wearing of party colours -- green for the SLPP and red for the APC-- in the polling booths.

Some human rights organisations on Saturday blamed the low turnout on the heavy police presence.

"From our investigations, some voters said they feared a possible clash among political supporters so they simply stayed home and followed the proceedings on state and independent radio stations," Martin Thomas of the human rights organisation, Civic Rights, told AFP.

In the interior of the country local reporters also reported that the voting was peaceful with few people lining up to cast their ballots.

In the southern town of Bo, designated by police as a possible flashpoint, local radio correspondent Sydney Carr, reached by phone, reported that "the police are out in strong force here and are on alert," he told AFP.

The diamond-rich southern Kono district, which had seen some violent incidents ahead of the elections, was also relatively calm although local radio reported some irregularities as some polling booths were not screened from public view.

"We are hopeful that things will pick up in the afternoon before the polls close at 5 pm local time (1700 GMT)," elections officials in Freetown said when asked about the low turnout.

"So far, things are proceeding as planned," elections officer Sam Sankoh told AFP.

The security forces were also satisfied with the way the elections were going.

"We have enough logistics to respond to all incidents. We are providing high visibility patrol, foot patrol and vehicular patrol aided by crowd control unit, " assistant inspector-general of the Sierra Leone police Richard Moigbeh said.

The results of the vote will not be known for several days.

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