IVORY COAST: Voting starts in country's first parliamentary election since 2000

Record ID: 182125

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Voting starts in country's first parliamentary election since 2000
  • Date: 12th December 2011
  • Summary: CLOSE-UP OF VOTER'S CARD
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA39MPC5PTXWJBZYYQELUCU6V12
  • Story Text: After years of political turmoil, Ivory Coast votes on Sunday (December 11) in the country's first parliamentary election since 2000. The ruling coalition of President Alassane Ouattara looks set to sweep to victory, easing the new leader's mammoth task of rebuilding a nation crippled by war.
    Over five million voters are expected to be voting in an election which is seen as a crucial step toward recovery after a decade of conflict and political turmoil. Voters queued up early morning in neighbourhoods loyal to President Alassane Ouattara, waiting for polls to open.
    Ouattara's ruling coalition, which includes his 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.
    His 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.
    In other neighbourhoods of the country's commercial capital Abidjan, seen as a strongholds of former President Laurent Gbagbo, voters trickled into polling stations while other polling stations remained open, still waiting for voters.
    The country's last parliamentary election took place in 2000, when its former President Laurent Gbagbo first took power. 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.
    Gbago has now become the first former head of state to appear at the International Criminal Court in The Hague facing multiple charges of crimes against humanity.
    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.
    Ivory Coast is the world's top producer of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, but also produces gold, oil and cotton.
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