Cote d'Ivoire holds legislative election

A woman with a baby on her back, votes at a polling station in Abidjan December 11, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

ABIDJAN - Cote d'Ivoire holds the legislative election on Sunday amid tensions and inadequate preparations months after the West African country ended violence following the presidential polls in November 2010.

The legislative vote is being boycotted by the party of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested in April and brought to The Hague recently for war crime trials. The party has vowed to withdraw from the process of national reconciliation.

In the economic capital Abidjan, the vote was feared to be delayed as necessary materials were not in place at some polling stations before the scheduled opening of the operation.

The vote was scheduled to open at 7:00 am (0700 GMT) and close at 5:00 pm (1700 GMT). The results are expected within a week.

In the district of Yopougon, the stronghold of Gbagbo's FPI party, many polling stations were not open one hour before the beginning of the vote.

"We are waiting for the general commissar for the delay of the operations," said one of the local election official.

"There is a problem of bulletin of vote at the level of the CEI (electoral commission), so we are going to begin a little bit late, " said the chief of the polling station at the Sicogi 5 school.

At Koumassi, a community in the south of Abidjan, the polling stations were opened 30 minutes behind schedule, an election official told Xinhua on phone.

Around 5.7 million voters have been registered out of the country's 20 million or so population to cast ballots for a 255- seat parliament.

The FPI is calling on its members to stay at home.

The party threatened a boycott after Gbagbo was transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on November 30, only days before the election campaigns were kicked off on December 3.

At least five people were reportedly killed in the week-long campaigns including a bomb attack on Wednesday in the southwestern town of Grand Lahou, killing three people at a rally in support of President Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo and his wife were arrested and placed under house arrest on April 11 after a two-week bloody war in Abidjan at the end of political impasse following the presidential run-off in November 2010.

The ICC was authorized to investigate the eventual war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during these confrontations which left at least 3,000 people dead.

Meanwhile, the country's former combatants have voiced willingness to join the process of national reconciliation.

A large number of veterans gathered in Abidjan on Saturday night for a meeting to help achieve the concord and cohesion.

"We want to show that the men who fought in the wars can promote the peace," said Yassongo Kone, the president of the Fraternal Association of Fornmer Combatants.

Thousands of Africans fought wars on the side of France in armed conflicts including those in Algeria, Indo-China and the two world wars respectively breaking out in 1914 and 1939.

The voice of the ex-combatants add to Cote d'Ivoire's efforts to restore peace and stability after the post-election violence and a long-standing division between the pro-Ouattara north and the pro-Gbagbo south from September 2002 and April 2011.

To ensure the success of the ongoing election, Cote d'Ivoire has deployed 25,000 security forces, with the backing of 7,000 UN peacekeepers in the country.