{"id":11034,"date":"2011-12-11T19:29:48","date_gmt":"2011-12-11T19:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/"},"modified":"2011-12-11T19:29:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-11T19:29:48","slug":"low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll"},"content":{"rendered":"

11 December 2011<\/span> Last updated at<\/span> 19:29 GMT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to go out and vote<\/span><\/div>\n

There has been a low turnout in the first parliamentary vote in Ivory Coast since violence sparked by a presidential election a year ago.<\/p>\n

Five million people were eligible to vote but the party of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down set off the violence, boycotted the poll.<\/p>\n

The vote passed off peacefully, including in pro-Gbagbo areas.<\/p>\n

President Alassane Ouattara said the election was an essential step towards rebuilding democracy in Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

UN troops were on patrol for the vote in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan.<\/p>\n

Mr Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Mr Gbagbo’s party, the Ivorian Popular Front party, has accused the electoral commission of bias in favour of the current President, Alassane Ouattara.<\/p>\n

It also accuses the army of intimidating supporters during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Peaceful poll<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, election officials had spoken of small numbers turning out to vote in comparison with the presidential elections last year.<\/p>\n

Casting his vote at midday, President Ouattara urged Ivorians to go to the polls. Nearly 1,000 candidates stood for election to 255 posts.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

One voter, Vincent Dano, said he thought the political crisis earlier this year may have affected the turnout.<\/p>\n

“I voted. Not a lot of people have,” he told the Associated Press news agency. “Many people lost their identity cards during the crisis, so they can’t vote.”<\/p>\n

The boycott by the opposition created a sterile election campaign, with almost all the candidates coming from the pro-government coalition, the BBC’s John James in Abidjan reports.<\/p>\n

Voter turnout appears to have been low even in normally pro-Ouattara areas but there have been no reports of violence and the atmosphere at polling stations – even in pro-Gbagbo areas – was peaceful, he says.<\/p>\n

He says that many voters found it hard to get excited about the poll, regardless of their political views, because of the limited powers given to the national assembly.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, for the new government, a peaceful and well-run poll will help show investors that Ivory Coast is back up and running, our correspondent adds.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Mr Gbagbo, who was arrested in April and flown to The Hague last month, faces four charges of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

He is accused<\/a> of being an “indirect co-perpetrator” of murder, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11 December 2011 Last updated at 19:29 GMT President Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to go out and vote There has been a low turnout in the first parliamentary vote in Ivory Coast since violence sparked by a presidential election a year ago. Five million people were eligible to vote but the party of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down set off the violence, boycotted the poll<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nLow turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"11 December 2011 Last updated at 19:29 GMT President Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to go out and vote There has been a low turnout in the first parliamentary vote in Ivory Coast since violence sparked by a presidential election a year ago. Five million people were eligible to vote but the party of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down set off the violence, boycotted the poll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-11T19:29:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\",\"name\":\"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-11T19:29:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"11 December 2011 Last updated at 19:29 GMT President Alassane Ouattara urged Ivorians to go out and vote There has been a low turnout in the first parliamentary vote in Ivory Coast since violence sparked by a presidential election a year ago. Five million people were eligible to vote but the party of Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down set off the violence, boycotted the poll","twitter_image":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll","datePublished":"2011-12-11T19:29:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/"},"wordCount":514,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/","name":"Low turnout for Ivory Coast poll - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-12-11T19:29:48+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/11\/low-turnout-for-ivory-coast-poll\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57257000\/jpg\/_57257924_013506736-1.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}