Results of the referendum carried out on Sunday in Cote d’Ivoire are expected on Monday or Tuesday according to the country’s electoral commission.
Vote counting is underway in the West African nation despite reports of disruptions by some youth who destroyed equipment at several polling stations in the Ivorian capital Abidjan. The country’s Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko and eyewitnesses also confirmed the violence at the polls that were boycotted by the opposition who are against the draft constitution.
“There are young violent people who are ransacking the polls but it can not stop the voting,” Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko told the media.
He said the young men posed as voters and took voting materials preventing people from casting their ballots citing neighbourhoods including Yopougon, Gagnoa, Daloa and Dabou in the capital which are popular opposition strongholds.
“We are redeploying security forces to ensure that the election proceeds smoothly. Things are going well overall,” Bakayoko added.
President Alassane Ouattara also mentioned the incidents after voting in Abidjan, saying they were isolated cases.
“These happened at two or three places … I appeal for a peaceful election. The police did its job. We can vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, it is not worth disrupting it or building barricades,” he emphasized.
Cote d’Ivoire’s main opposition party, Alliance of Democratic Forces (AFD-CI), and its allies demonstrated last week and called for a boycott of the referendum vote as well as a total withdrawal of the new draft constitution which they claim is a step backward for democracy.
The opposition’s main dispute is a clause relaxes the previous requirement that presidential candidates should have both parents born in the country as well as the removal of the maximum age limit (75 years) for presidential candidates.
The poll results are expected to determine the country’s position on the new constitution stipulates the creation of a post of Vice President, a Senate, a House of traditional chiefs, compulsory education and five-year term for the President among others.
Voting was expected to end at 18:00 GMT and the results declared by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in a maximum of four days.
This is the second referendum in the West African country and if the ‘Yes’ wins, the new constitution will be the third for the country.
