11 December 2011 Last updated at 15:36 GMT
President Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to go out and voteThe people of Ivory Coast are voting in their first parliamentary poll since a presidential election a year ago sparked months of violence.
More than five million people are eligible to vote, but turnout halfway through the day was reportedly low.
UN troops are on patrol in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan.
The party of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down last year set off the bloodshed, is boycotting the poll. It complains of intimidation and bias.
Mr Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.
Mr Gbagbo’s party, the Ivorian Popular Front party, has accused the electoral commission of bias in favour of the current President, Alassane Ouattara.
It also accuses the army of intimidating supporters during the campaign.
Fears of violence
Election officials spoke of small numbers turning out to vote in comparison with the presidential elections last year.
Casting his vote at midday, President Ouattara urged Ivorians to go to the polls. Nearly 1,000 candidates are vying for 255 posts.
“In my view, this election is essential because for the past 11 years, Ivorians have not been able to vote for their representatives in parliament,” he said.
One voter, Vincent Dano, said he thought the political crisis earlier this year may have affected the turnout.
“I voted. Not a lot of people have,” he told the Associated Press. “Many people lost their identity cards during the crisis, so they can’t vote.”
Despite the low turnout, there had been no reports of violence and the atmosphere at polling stations – even in pro-Gbagbo areas – was peaceful, the BBC’s John James in Abidjan reports.
He says that many voters have found it hard to get excited about the poll, regardless of their political views, because of the limited powers given to the national assembly.
Nevertheless, for the new government, a peaceful and well-run poll would help show investors that Ivory Coast is back up and running, our correspondent adds.
Thousands of people were killed in the months that followed presidential polls last December after Mr Gbagbo refused to hand over power, claiming he had won.
Mr Gbagbo, who was arrested in April and flown to The Hague last month, faces four charges of crimes against humanity.
He is accused of being an “indirect co-perpetrator” of murder, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts.
Hundreds of his supporters protested against his detention outside the ICC in The Hague on Saturday, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan “No Gbagbo, No Peace”.
Human rights groups welcomed the arrest warrant, but said that, while Mr Gbagbo’s forces had triggered the violence, both sides had been implicated in grave crimes.
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