ABIDJAN, Nov 6 (AFP) - The Ivory Coast government has mapped out new
voting
districts ahead of legislative elections next month, meeting with the main
political parties to dispel suspicions of attempted gerrymandering.
   Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou announced over state television late
Sunday that President Laurent Gbagbo, elected in last month's controversial
elections, signed a decree enacting the new electoral map at an
extraordinary
cabinet meeting.
   The new map creating 174 new districts for an enlarged, 225-seat assembly
on the basis of a 1998 census was presented to representatives of the main
political parties, including two formations whose presidential candidates
were
excluded from last month's election restoring civilian rule.
   Le Patriote, the mouthpiece of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) party, had
on
Saturday charged that the new government was seeking to skew the new
electoral
map in favor of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) ahead of the
legislative
elections on December 10.
   However at Sunday's meeting, members of the RDR and the former sole
ruling
Democratic Party (PDCI) all appeared satisfied with the fairness and
accuracy
of the new map.
   Last month's controversial presidential poll was contested by just five
candidates after the Supreme Court excluded other key contenders, including
PDCI members and the RDR candidate, Alassane Ouattara, a former prime
minister.
   The polls were followed by days of violent protests as military ruler
Robert Guei refused to acknowledge defeat to Gbagbo, then Gbagbo supporters
battled those of the RDR, which sought a new presidential election.
   A total of 171 people died in the unrest, according to the new
government.
Unofficial estimates earlier put the number at more than 200.
   The PDCI -- which had ruled in the Ivory Coast from independence in 1960
until Guei seized power in a December 1999 coup -- had 145 of the 175 seats
in
the last national assembly.
   The body's expansion to 225 seats was decided by the electoral commission
set up by the military regime that was in power for the 10 months leading up
to last month's presidential elections.
   Boga Doudou said that the FPI had favored a proportional vote, but was in
the minority on the issue. Instead the vote will be first past the post.
   so/gd/jlr

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