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Only about one-third of voters are reported to have cast their ballots in legislative elections on Sunday in Cote d’Ivoire. State officials said the polls were held in an atmosphere of calm, despite the fear and tension caused by protests earlier in the week and a state of emergency decreed in reaction to the protests.
The officials said no elections were held in about 30 constituencies in the north of the country because, in some areas, polling material had been destroyed and, in some, public servants, who often work as polling officers, had pulled out.
Groups in the north had reacted to a Supreme Court decision invalidating Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) leader Alassane Ouattara’s candidature at the legislative polls by pulling down the Ivorian flag from public buildings and ordering state officials to leave their districts.
The court had ruled that Ouattara did not provide admissible evidence that he was Ivorian. The same court had earlier turned down his bid to run for president.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
