Liberian election officials have warned against any attempt to disrupt tallying after the west African country's second post-war polls which got the thumbs up from the UN and African blocs.
The National Elections Commission said the first results were due on Thursday, with newspapers predicting new Nobel laureate and incumbent president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would go to a second round with former diplomat Winston Tubman.
"Any unauthorised person that attempts to disrupt or interfere with the sorting and counting at polling places will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with law," said NEC chief James Fromayan.
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In Monrovia, people gathered around televisions and monitored local radio on their cellphones as unofficial results trickled in.
The capital's main thoroughfare, Broad Street, bustled as scores crowded around newspaper vendors who had up to 20 titles spread across the ground, reading headlines, as the heavy rain which marked voting day began again.
"I am very impatient. I want to know the result of these elections. This is the reason why I have come here to see what the papers have to say," Samuel Gayflor, 32, told AFP.
SIRLEAF AWARDED NOBEL
Sirleaf was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize prize just days before Tuesday's vote, for her work in rebuilding the country and promoting women's rights after 14 years of civil war in which some 250,000 people were killed.
She faces stiff opposition from Tubman, 70, a Harvard-trained lawyer who has said she does not deserve the prize.
Tubman has accused Sirleaf of failing to effect reconciliation and evoked her shady ties to warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor and says not much has changed for the average person in a country with 80 percent unemployment.
But Sirleaf wants more time to rebuild the "broken country", whose fragile democracy is facing a key test in the election, the first organised by Liberians themselves.
UN MISSION
The 8,000-strong UN mission in Liberia is providing security back-up as the country prepares for the annoucement of results, which has often proved to be the most edgy moment in recent African elections.
"We are still working on security with the Liberia National Police to ensure that the rest of the process goes smoothly," UNMIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane told AFP.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed "the smooth holding of the presidential and legislative elections in Liberia".
"This election is an important milestone in the efforts to consolidate peace and democracy in the country," his spokesman said.
Poll chief Fromayan said the incident-free vote showed the country had matured to reach "a new dimension where the Liberian people chose the ballot box over the barrel of a gun."
'CALM' POLLING
The African Union observer mission reported a smooth and peaceful voting process in a press conference on Wednesday, noting only minor glitches due to poor lighting in polling stations, and voters who did not understand what to do, thereby slowing down queues.
A mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also said there had been "no major irregularities".
Newspapers spoke of a "massive turnout" from some 1.8 million eligible voters.
Observers warn that the Liberia's peace is still fragile as victims of a war fought by numerous rebel factions, some using drugged-up child soldiers, maiming, raping and terrorising citizens, had yet to heal.
Sirleaf has been criticised for dragging her feet in implementing recommendations by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which names her on a list of people who should be barred from public office for backing warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor.
Candidates will have to sweep an absolute majority to avoid an eventual run-off on November 8.
