Sierra Leone's main opposition party has named a former coup leader as its presidential candidate.

Retired Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio will lead the ticket of the Sierra Leone People's Party in next year's elections.

Bio will run against incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma, who plans to seek a second term. Officials have not set the exact date for the vote.

Bio ruled Sierra Leone for three months in 1996 after the military seized power.

The coup occurred in the middle of the country's bloody 11-year civil war.