Voters in Ivory Coast began casting their ballots in
local elections Sunday, amid high tensions following a boycott of the polls by
the party of former president Laurent Gbagbo.
They are the first local elections in more than a
decade in French-speaking West Africa's largest economy and the first time the
government has organized a vote since a disputed presidential contest in 2010
plunged the country into violence.
Almost 700 candidates are running for municipal
seats, with an additional 84 on the ballot for regional positions.
With Gbagbo's party, the Popular Ivorian Front
(FPI), out of the race, the election is a contest between the two parties in
power -- President Alassane Ouattara's Rally of Republicans and the Democratic
Party of Ivory Coast.
The FPI has demanded that authorities reform the
electoral commission and grant an amnesty for crimes committed during the
2010-11 election crisis.
The United Nations estimates that at least 3,000
people died in five months of fighting after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat
to the winner and current president, Ouattara.
The final days of the campaign saw clashes in
several areas including Abidjan and towns in the west, an unstable,
violence-prone region.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/ivory-coast-local-polls-begin-amid-boycott/1645870.html
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