FREETOWN is a capital city that looks like a stinking refugee camp, heaving under pressure from mammoth overcrowding and savage poverty.

Children beg everywhere and the telltale signs of malnutrition from their swollen bellies can be seen as they run half naked and barefoot through the streets. Torrential rain turned those streets into rivers last week and yet there was a shortage of drinking water. Electricity was available for only a few hours a day.

A decade of war ended five years ago, leaving Sierra Leone one of Africa’s most impoverished nations. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held yesterday amid great anticipation and partying.

Marches by the three main political parties, the Sierra Leone People’s party (SLPP), the All People’s Congress (APC) and the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), turned into carnivals as each party tried to outdo its rivals with the number of supporters it could muster on the streets.

Despite vast potential wealth from diamonds, gold and minerals such as bauxite and titanium, seven out of 10 of Sierra Leone’s 6m people live on less than $1 a day. More than £1.5 billion in aid has been given since 2000 along with £800m in debt relief, with Britain the biggest donor. Little seems to have trickled down to the people.

Many believe that political corruption is the root of the poverty. The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said in a report that “most of the problems that existed before the war remain - poverty, bad governance, corruption, massive unemployment and disillusioned youth”.

Many here criticise Britain for not placing more stringent safeguards on how aid is disbursed. With London committed to aiding the country until 2012, they question whether the investment is value for money.

Sierra Leone was ranked in the corruption index of Transparency International as 148th out of 163 countries in 2006. It also came second to last on the United Nations Human Development Index, with youth unemployment at nearly 80%. Overseas funding for its AntiCorruption Commission was withdrawn this year after it failed to pursue a single high-profile case.

There are signs that an outcry against corruption may benefit the opposition parties.

“In 2002 I gave my vote to Pa Kabbah [the outgoing President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah], believing that he was the man and the party to improve our lives after years of war,” said Albert Sherid, 30, who works in a supermarket. “Only he failed to do so and he has lost my confidence and vote as well as many others like me.”

Nearly 50,000 died in the war, which ended after British troops overcame a rebel army that had become infamous for abducting children into its ranks and raping and hacking off the limbs of its victims. Since the demobilisation of more than 72,000 fighters, peace has returned.

Children make up almost half of Sierra Leone’s population. One report suggested that only two out of every five will reach the age of 40, the average life expectancy.

Most of the country’s diamonds are still smuggled out, creating a huge trade in illicit “blood diamonds” which helped to finance the war.

The frontrunner to succeed to the presidency is Solomon Berewa, 69, the vice-president who is from the ruling SLPP. His critics charge that he is tarnished by the failures of the outgoing government.

Analysts say that a tough race this year may spark a second round of elections if no party gains the required 55% of the vote.