The main opposition party in Ivory Coast claimed victory in a legislative election on Sunday, despite preliminary results being rife with irregularities, according to VOA.
The election on Saturday was a crucial test of stability four months after 87 people were killed in violence surrounding a contested presidential election in the former French colony.
Niamkey Koffi, a top official in the centre-right Ivory Coast Democratic Party, said, “We think we have about 128 seats with our allies” in the 255-seat National Assembly (PDCI).
“Our concern is that the results may be manipulated,” Koffi said at a press conference, notifying the government against “any attempt to falsify” them.
The announcement came after the CEI, an independent electoral commission, released preliminary results that Koffi described as “strewn with fraud, tampering, and manipulation.”
About one-third of the results had been declared by the CEI by mid-afternoon, but not enough to show consistent trends.
The opposition boycotted the presidential election in October, in which incumbent Alassane Ouattara, 79, secured a disputed third term with over 94 percent of the vote.
In several large cities, including the political capital Yamassoukrou, the coastal resort of Grand-Bassam, and main districts of Abidjan, Koffi said there were attempts to reverse the results of Saturday’s vote.
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