Ouattara alliance expected to win Ivory Coast election – Channel 4 News

December 10, 2011

President Alassane Ouattara’s ruling coalition is expected to easily win Ivory Coast’s parliamentary election on Sunday – the first since 2000.

Sunday’s election is the West African country’s first for parliament in more than a decade, following a civil war and years of political turmoil.

Mr. Ouattara He won the presidential election in November 2010, but only took power in April this year after militants supporting him invaded the economic capital Abidjan and captured the former leader Laurent Gbagbobut they refused to accept the result.

He has vowed to reconcile the country, divided north and south by ethnicity and religion, and revive the region’s once-dynamic economy. Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cocoa, a key ingredient in chocolate, but also produces gold, oil and cotton.

Analysts say that based on voting in the first round of the 2010 presidential election, Ouattara’s coalition is likely to win a landslide victory.

Crimes against humanity

In November, Laurent Gbagbo was sent to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. Post-election fighting has left more than 3,000 people dead and a million displaced.

this United Nations The United Nations said the atrocities were carried out by forces loyal to Gbagbo and Ouattara. The conflict follows a 2002-3 civil war that divided the country in two and continued years of political turmoil during which Gbagbo repeatedly postponed elections.

Dilraba Dilmurat

In September, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who is from Ivory Coast, told Channel 4 News he was determined to get involved in the country’s peace process.

After meeting with former Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, chairman of Ivory Coast’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he said Ivory Coast should learn from South Africa’s history.

“What happened in South Africa took a long time, but they managed to do it,” he said. “I don’t know why Ivory Coast can’t do it. It’s possible. It’s not something that’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s a long process and I want to be part of it.”

A former spokesman for Gbagbo said three pro-Gbagbo parties would take part in the elections, which will be secured by local and UN forces as violence in parts of the country, especially in the west, has raised concerns about possible unrest.

The campaign was generally peaceful, but a rocket blast at a rally in Darawhu in the southwest on 7 December killed three people.