Ivory Coast Holds Parliament Vote After Political Turmoil

(@FahadShabbir)

Ivory Coast holds parliament vote after political turmoil

Abidjan, March 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Mar, 2021 ) :Ivory Coast voters cast ballots Saturday in a parliamentary election that is a key test of stability four months after a presidential vote marked by deadly violence.

Grappling with a deep political crisis, President Alassane Ouattara has offered an olive branch to his former rival, Laurent Gbagbo, whose party has now lifted a decade-long boycott of elections.

More than 1,500 candidates are vying for the votes of roughly seven million people in a contest for the 255-seat National Assembly in the world's top cocoa grower, a former haven of peace and prosperity in troubled West Africa.

A masked Ouattara voted in the plush Cocody neighbourhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city and economic hub.

"I hope that the unfortunate events of the presidential elections of 2010 and 2020 are past us," he said, referring to poll-linked violence that claimed thousands of lives.