ABIDJAN, March 26 (AFP) - The opposition Rally of Republicans (RDR) has
sealed its return to Ivorian politics with a strong showing in municipal
elections, after boycotting presidential and legislative elections last
year.
   The party led by the exiled Alassane Ouattara was in the lead following
weekend voting, with turnout at just over 40 percent according to partial
results released Monday.
   International observers said that voting had been conducted in a
"democratic and transparent way".
   With 186 of the country's 197 municipalities reporting, the RDR had
secured
victory in 62, to 56 for the formerly ruling Ivory Coast Democratic Party
(PDCI).
   The Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) of President Laurent Gbagbo has taken 33
municipalities, while independents secured another 35.
   The latest figures include results from the major cities but the
National
Electoral Commission president, Honore Guie, said that complete results
would
not be known until Tuesday.
   Foreign donors kept a close vigil on the municipal polls to decide
whether
to resume aid to the politically troubled nation, frozen since a 1999 coup.
   Saddled with an external debt of some two billion dollars and a negative
growth of two percent, the west African country can ill afford the aid
freeze
to continue.
   Ouattara's RDR won several symbolic victories, wresting Bouake, the
country's second city, from the PDCI, as well as Gagnoa, formerly held by
the
FPI in Gbagbo's home region.
   "We are happy with what has happened. Apart from in the north (the RDR
stronghold), we have shown that the RDR is a national party," said
Henriette
Dagri Diabate, RDR secretary general.
   "We think that in the end the RDR has proven in the eyes of all Ivorians
and the international community that it is one of the main, if not the
main,
parties in Ivory Coast," she said.
   FPI national election secretary Sebastien Danon Djedje acknowledged that
the results were "not great" for his party, while stressing that the full
results were not yet in.
   "Today we see that (the RDR) is a force to reckon with. The atmosphere
should become less strained," he said.
   The RDR had boycotted presidential and legislative elections last year
because Ouattara was barred from standing.
   The voting on Sunday passed off generally peacefully, in stark contrast
to
sweeping violence during last year's polls, which claimed more than 190
lives,
according to official estimates.
   However, two people were killed in election-linked violence in the west
of
the country on Sunday.
   International observers from the organisation, Parliamentarians for
Global
Action (PGA), were present in around 100 polling stations.
   PGA said in a statement: "No serious or intentional irreglarities were
observed and proper procedures were followed.
   "The cooperation between the political parties throughout the polling
process could be indicative for the reconciliation process in Ivory Coast."
   so/gg/loc

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