IVORY COAST: Sunday vote is a key step in post war recovery and a test of national support for Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara, as a boycott call by the party formerly led by Gbagbo divides the opposition

Record ID: 182118

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Sunday vote is a key step in post war recovery and a test of national support for Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara, as a boycott call by the party formerly led by Gbagbo divides the opposition
  • Date: 10th December 2011
  • Summary: FPI SUPPORTERS SINGING IVORIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4VQ6UHGQZ1HZR0CEJ9NNCGEW5
  • Story Text: The ruling coalition of President Alassane Ouattara looks set to sweep to victory in a parliamentary election in Ivory Coast on Sunday (December 9), easing the new leader's mammoth task of rebuilding a nation crippled by war.
    The vote will mark the first time since 2000 that the West African country has been able to elect a parliament. It is seen as a crucial step toward recovery after a decade of conflict and political turmoil.
    "What I hope for is that everything goes on in peace, so that Ivory Coast, like everyone says, can reconcile properly, so that things start working again. That we forget grudges, that we forget resentments and then we can advance. That's what makes Africa lag behind," said Denis Kouassi Konan, a supporter of one of the parties in Ouattara's coalition.
    Ouattara won presidential elections in November 2010 but was only able to take the reins of power in April after fighters backing him invaded the economic capital Abidjan and captured ex-leader Laurent Gbagbo, who had rejected the results.
    Ouattara has since vowed to reconcile the country, long split along north-south lines by ethnicity and religion, and revive what was once the region's most vibrant economy. Those tough goals could prove easier with a willing legislature.
    More than 3,000 people were killed in the post-election fighting, and over 1 million were displaced. Human rights groups and the United Nations have said both Gbagbo's and Ouattara's fighters committed atrocities.
    The conflict followed a civil war in 2002-3 that split the country in two, and years of political turmoil during which Gbagbo repeatedly delayed elections.
    Ordinary Ivorians say they will do anything to avoid further bloodshed.
    "Ivorians don't have the same (violent) reflexes, which automatically made this country go into chaos last time. I can say we don't have any more problems of this kind. But we should be able to see, we see that the minimum of conditions necessary are there in order to be able to have hold proper elections. Because everyone is really discouraged," said Seguin Tre, an unemployed man from Abidjan.
    Analysts said Ouattara's ruling coalition, which includes is RDR party and the allied PDCI, appears set for a landslide win based on voting patterns during the first-round of last year's presidential polls.
    Ouattara's chances could get a further boost from a boycott call by Gbagbo's former ruling party, the FPI, angered by the alleged unfair treatment of Gbagbo supporters by the government and a failure to prosecute war crimes by both sides.
    Sylvain Miaka Ouretto, who became FPI interim president following Gbagbo's departure from power, said it didn't make any sense for the party to take part in these elections.
    "As far as we see, these elections are like a grave they are digging for us in order to bury us. But no, when we see their need to bury the FPI we are not going to help them do it."
    Ouretto also hit out at political allies who have defied a call to boycott the parliamentary election, fracturing what was once a unified pro-Gbagbo bloc.
    "The central committee, according to the statute of the party has decided to suspend all our colleagues who in their lack of discipline have not obeyed the directives given by the party," he said of his colleagues who put their names forward as candidates.
    Many Ivorians are tired of years of violence that culminated with the political wrangling that lead to the civil war earlier this year, and have simply decided to stay away.
    "I can't go to vote, who am I going to vote for? I voted in the presidential elections and it became a quarrel, they killed us. This election is not going to achieve anything. They've already chosen the people they need to hold elections with, so they should just to it, but I am not going to vote," said entrepreneur Evelyn Koffi.
    Gbagbo was sent to The Hague in late November to face charges of crimes against humanity, a move analysts said could reduce tensions within Ivory Coast but would fall far short of reconciling a divided country.
    Nearly 1,000 candidates will vie for the National Assembly's 255 seats, according to the electoral commission.
    Campaigning has been mostly peaceful so far, though three people were killed on Wednesday (December 07) in a rocket blast at a rally in Grand-Lahou, in the southwest.
    The President of the National Independent Electoral Commission Youssouf Bakayoko made an appeal for calm and peace.
    "The independent electoral commission asks again all political parties and the independent candidates taking part in the legislative elections to start from now on to do their part in maintaining a climate of calm all along the electoral as well as post-electoral period," Bakayoko said.
    Pockets of lingering violence in parts of the country, particularly in the west, have reinforced worries of trouble during the polls, which will be secured by local and United Nations forces.
    U.N. tanks were also present on the streets of Abidjan, a vivid reminder of the post electoral crisis earlier this year.
    Posters encouraging candidates to gracefully accept defeat have been erected across the city centre.
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