Success for Ivorian opposition

Voting across much of the country was peaceful

With most of the votes counted in Ivory Coast's municipal elections, it is becoming clear that the ruling party of President Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), is trailing well behind its political rivals.

Councils won so far

Rally of Republicans - 62

Democratic Party of Cote D'Ivoire -56

Ivorian Popular Front - 33

Independent - 35

The main opposition party of the exiled former prime minister, Alassane Outtara, has gained control of more than 60 councils - that is nearly one-third of the total and almost twice as many as the FPI.

They include the country's second largest city, Bouake, which had been regarded as President Gbagbo's stronghold.

The former ruling Democratic Party, the PDCI, won 56 and independent groups took 35 councils.

Celebration

The BBC correspondent in Abidjan says that RDR supporters were celebrating on Monday afternoon.

Their candidates won councils not just in the RDR's northern strongholds but across the country.

President Gbagbo has yet to comment on the results.

The RDR boycotted last year's presidential and legislative elections as their leader former Prime Minister Alassane Outtara was not allowed to stand.

Mr Outtara was unable to be a candidate because he was not considered 100% Ivorian.

He is currently living in exile in France.

Crucial poll

These elections were seen as the first real electoral test since the military coup in 1999.

Correspondents say the voting passed off peacefully in Abidjan, but a number of violent incidents were reported in the north and west of the country.

Two people were killed in one northern town, Zouan Hounien, after a fight between supporters of the main opposition Rally for Republicans (RDR) and the ruling Ivorian Popular Front party.

Alassane Ouattara's party can prove their strength

Violence disrupted controversial presidential and legislative polls last year, but the municipal elections were contested for the first time by all major political parties.

Turn-out was put at 41%.

There is keen interest in the election because the RDR, led by former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, took part.

Mr Outtara, who currently lives in exile in France, was controversially barred from contesting the 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections on the grounds that he was not 100% Ivorian.

Foreign donors, who have all suspended aid to Ivory Coast citing fiscal mismanagement and bad governance, are closely monitoring the elections.

Some 5.4m voters were eligible to vote in the poll, which elects representatives to 197 municipalities for the next five years.

First true test

While the general picture was peaceful, the polls closed in the south-western coastal resort town of Sassandra, about 250 kilometres (156 miles) west of Abidjan, after residents of two villages ransacked poll materials when they were excluded from the voters' lists at the last minute.

President Gbagbo's victory was tarnished

Clashes in the aftermath of last year's presidential and legislative elections claimed over 190 lives countrywide, according to official estimates, while the RDR says more than 300 of its supporters were killed in poll-related violence.

The ballot presented the ruling party with a chance to prove that Laurent Gbagbo's victory in the presidential election was not just a fluke caused by the lack of opposition.

It also represented an opportunity for Mr Ouattara's supporters to prove that they cannot be written off as a one-man party and that their leader has a legitimate claim to be a major player in the new Ivory Coast.