IVORY Coast’s main opposition party on Sunday claimed victory in a legislative election in the West African nation, alleging that preliminary results were riddled with irregularities.
Saturday’s vote was a key test of stability, four months after violence around a disputed presidential poll claimed 87 lives in the former French colony.
“We think we have around 128 seats with our allies” in the 255-seat National Assembly, said Niamkey Koffi, a top official in the centre-right Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI).
“Our concern is that the results may be manipulated,” Koffi said at a press conference, warning the government against “any attempt to falsify” them.
The statement came after the independent electoral commission CEI announced early provisional results, which Koffi said were “strewn with fraud, tampering and manipulation.”
By mid-afternoon the CEI had announced around one-third of the results, but not enough to indicate clear trends.
The opposition had boycotted the
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