- Title: IVORY COAST: MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS PASS PEACEFULLY
- Date: 26th March 2001
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (MARCH 24, 2001)(REUTERS) 1. MV SUPPORTERS OF IVORY COAST'S RULING PARTY THE IVORIAN POPULAR FRONT (FPI) CHANT AND SING AS THEY TOUT FOR VOTES IN THE CAPITAL ABIDJAN 0.10 2. SLV LORRY LOAD OF FPI SUPPORTERS DRUM UP SUPPORT (2 SHOTS) 0.22 3. MV SUPPORTERS OF AN INDEPENDENT MAYORAL CANDIDATE DRIVE IN A CONVOY THROUGH ABIDJAN 0.26 ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (MARCH 25, 2001)(REUTERS) 4. MV GENDARMES LOOKING ON AS PEOPLE WAIT TO VOTE IN ABIDJAN SUBURB OF WILLIAMSVILLE 0.30 5. MV/SCU LINE OF VOTERS OUTSIDE A WILLIAMSVILLE POLLING BOOTH (3 SHOTS) 0.42 6. MV HENRIETTE DIABATE, NUMBER TWO IN THE OPPOSITION RALLY OF REPUBLICANS (RDR), VOTES IN THE ABIDJAN DISTRICT OF PORT BOUET 0.46 7. SOUNDBITE (French) DIABATE SAYING: "It's important because it's the first time in my opinion since the transition (from military rule) that we have a democratic process." 0.54 8. SLV POLICE CAR DRIVES PAST AN ABIDJAN VOTING STATION 1.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th April 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVADE83KYN47O9UX3XNUKR9VWAID
- Story Text: The people of Ivory Coast have voted peacefully in
municipal elections closely watched by the donor community as
the final stage in a transition to civilian rule after more
than a year of political upheaval.
Candidates for the ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI)
and opposition parties
mounted lively campaigns for mayor and town council seats
ahead of voting in the capital Abidjan and across the country
on Saturday and Sunday (March 24-25).
Until a coup in December 1999 sparked political trouble in
which around
200 have died, Ivory Coast was seen as the most stable and
prosperous country in West Africa.
Donors were watching Sunday's elections closely.
For the first time all parties were allowed to contest the
poll, including
the opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) forced out of
presidential and parliamentary elections last year.
"It's important because it's the first time in my opinion
since the transition (from military rule) that we have a
democratic process," Henriette
Diabate, powerful number two of the RDR told reporters after
voting on Sunday.
Diabate is standing as mayor of the Port Bouet district of
the capital
Abidjan in one of the most closely watched races. In the
absence of RDR leader Alasanne Ouattara, in voluntary exile in
France, she is the party's de facto leader.
Given previous boycotts, Sunday's vote was the first trial
of strength
between the country's three main political parties, the FPI,
RDR and the
Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, which ruled the country for
40 years until the 1999 military coup.
Security officers watched the good-natured vote in the
capital but did not
intervene.
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