Ouattara backers winning in assembly race

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Political candidates loyal to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara emerged with a lead in the first legislative election in years, election figures indicate.

With final tallies trickling in Thursday, Outtara's Rally of Republicans party is close to winning a majority of the 225 seats on the country's legislative assembly. Independent candidates secured around a dozen seats, leaving the rest to the opposition Ivory Coast Democratic Party, Bloomberg News reports.

Ivorians voted for members of the legislative assembly last weekend, about a year after rival claims to the presidency pushed the country to the brink of civil war. Turnout for the election was low compared with 2010 presidential elections, African Union officials said.

Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down as president after the international community recognized Alassane Ouattara as the winner of an election meant to unite an Ivory Coast divided by civil war in 2003. Thousands of people were killed and many more were displaced in the conflict, which ended with Gbagbo's arrest in April.

Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity committed since the election. Both sides are accused by human rights groups of committing atrocities, however.

Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, managing director at African capital consulting company DaMina Advisers, told Bloomberg that Gbagbo's sympathizers might "conspire to form a critical swing block" in the assembly.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/12/15/Ouattara-backers-winning-in-assembly-race/UPI-66681323965273/.