Ivorians voted Sunday to elect a new parliament in a poll boycotted by the party of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo, who is awaiting trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity. The vote comes a year after the aftermath of a divisive presidential election brought the world's top cocoa producer to the brink of civil war and follows a bloodstained campaign that left five people dead in the final week.
Turnout was weak, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission here said, adding however that no incidents had been reported some four hours into the voting.
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara urged voters to ignore the boycott call, saying the new parliament would be "truly consensual (and) democratic ... and contribute to the strengthening of democracy in our country."
With Gbagbo sitting in an International Criminal Court (ICC) cell, the coalition backing Ouattara is widely expected to gain a majority of the 255 seats in the new assembly.
Ouattara, 69, took office six months after the November 2010 presidential polls as Gbagbo refused to step down, unleashing a conflict that claimed some 3,000 lives in a country that was once a beacon of stability in the west African region.
Gbagbo, who held on to his job five years after his initial mandate expired in 2005, was eventually captured in his presidential palace by pro-Ouattara forces in April, with support from French and UN troops.
"I came to vote so that Cote d'Ivoire can find peace again," said Mathieu Kouakou, a mechanic, after he cast his ballot in Abidjan's bustling Adjame district.
Some 25,000 members of the Ivorian security forces, backed by 7,000 members of the UN peacekeeping mission, have been deployed to ensure security for the elections in this former French colony.
Laurent Akoun, spokesman of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said the low turnout proved that the government is "illegitimate."
"The masquerade has thrived. We are staying in our corner. We have given no call for violence or to prevent voters from voting," he said.
The FPI said in its boycott call that conditions were not met for fair elections and has asked for the release of its main leaders - notably Gbagbo, with whom reconciliation "will be difficult" while he is facing trial in The Hague.
The FPI has called its champion's transfer last week to the ICC a "political kidnapping," denouncing what they call "victor's justice" and vowing to pull out of the reconciliation process.
The ICC has carried out an investigation parallel to Ivorian justice, looking into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by both Gbagbo loyalists as well as Ouattara supporters.
Sangare Sanissi, a voter in Adjame, told AFP: "This is to turn the page on a black period in our country. We're too tired, we have to go forward."