Two parties neck and neck in boycott-hit Ivory Coast elections
   by Caspar Leighton


   ABIDJAN, Dec 11 (AFP) - The former ruling Ivory Coast Democratic Party
(PDCI) and President Laurent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) were neck
and neck at 0500 GMT Monday with results in from 46 out of 225 parliamentary
seats after Sunday's boycott-hit general election.
   Turnout was very low, sometimes under 10 percent especially in the north
of
the country where voting had to be postponed in 29 constituencies, early
results showed.
   Of the first 46 seats to be announced by the Electoral Commission, the
PDCI
took 21 with 20 going to the FPI and five to independents.
   The opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) of former premier Alassane
Ouattara, which boycotted Sunday's vote to protest against the invalidation
of
Ouattara's candidacy, got less than 1.5 percent of the votes in each
constituency.
   In the northern "capital" of Korghogo-Commune, won by the PDCI candidate
with 83 percent of the vote, turnout was lowest with only 4,977 voters out
of
59,921 going to the polls. The RDR, whose stronghold Kong is nearby,
received
only 66 votes.
   Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou had said Sunday there had been no
voting in 29 out of 32 constituencies in the north judged to be at risk.
   Clashes between police and supporters of the RDR were reported in several
northern towns early Sunday, but had petered out by the early afternoon.
   Boga Doudou said that with the security situation back under control,
voting in some of constituencies affected could take place on Monday.
   Putting the cancellation of the vote in some areas as due more to
"administrative failures" than security problems, he also regretted what he
called the "fear" of some local administrators or election officials who had
not dared to go ahead with the vote.
   In some cases it had not been possible to replace voting material
destroyed
by Ouattara's supporters, said Boga Doudou.
   Voting figures were also low in some southern constituencies, with
Agboville north of Abidjan notching up just 32 percent and Abidjan's
upmarket
Cocody district 36 percent.
   RDR supporters decided to boycott and disrupt the elections after the
Supreme Court excluded Ouattara, a Muslim northerner, citing doubts over his
Ivorian nationality.
   The security forces crushed RDR protests in the economic capital Abidjan
Monday and Tuesday, using tear gas and bullets against the demonstrators.
   Dozens of people died in the violence as the newly elected President
Gbagbo
called out the troops and declared a state of emergency and a curfew, which
are still in force.
   On Sunday, troops and police patrolled the streets of Abidjan, but here
and
elsewhere in the country, voting passed off peacefully.
   Ouattara said in an interview Monday with the French newspaper La Croix
that Sunday's election was "not valid."
   "For me, this election, like the presidential election (of October 22),
is
not valid. I am not the only one to feel this way," said the opposition
leader
who is currently in France. He issued an "appeal for negotiations" to Gbagbo
"to save the integrity of Ivory Coast and preserve the unity of Ivorians."
   The mainly Muslim north of the country has been the scene of
anti-government demonstrations all week, with attacks on security forces and
government officials.
   Some northern areas called for secession from the south in protest at
Ouattara's exclusion.
   RDR secretary general Henriette Diabate told AFP that the state of
emergency, the disruption in the north and the RDR boycott of the vote meant
the parliament elected by Sunday's vote would not be representative.
   "Under such conditions, the parliament will not be credible, but it is no
doubt acceptable for Gbagbo," said Diabate.
   "You cannot exclude a party as important as the RDR from the political
arena," she added.
   But Gbagbo insisted as he turned out to vote on Sunday afternoon: "The
vast
majority is in the process of electing our deputies."
   On Saturday the Mediation Committee for National Reconciliation
recommended
that the elections be postponed to allow the participation of the RDR.
   The government rejected the recommendation.
   The UN, the OAU and the EU all pulled out their observers in protest at
the
banning of Ouattara, who had also been barred from running in October's
presidential elections.
   bur-il/bm

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