Ivory Coast Elections Delay Is Rejected

The government Saturday refused calls by Ivory Coast’s main opposition group and a special commission to postpone today’s controversial legislative election, a vote that many fear will spark more violence.

Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou said his own survey of political parties in this West African nation showed widespread opposition to the mediator commission’s plan to postpone the election for a week to allow the Rally of the Republicans party to appeal the exclusion of its leader from the vote.

Doudou spoke after a Cabinet meeting at the residence of President Laurent Gbagbo.

The commission, composed of government and party officials and representatives of the security forces, among others, had worked out the accord earlier in the day, and it was quickly accepted by the opposition Rally of the Republicans, pending the government’s approval.

But Doudou said Gbagbo’s government rejected the plan, saying it should “not bring on an even more serious crisis.”

“The government calls on the Ivorian people to go massively to their voting places. Their security will be guaranteed,” he said.

Rally of the Republicans officials said they had no choice now but to boycott the vote.

“There was an agreement, and we are very surprised by this,” party spokesman Ali Keita said. “We wanted appeasement, but . . . you know what dictatorship leads to.”

The party’s leader, Alassane Ouattara, was excluded from running in the legislative elections by the Supreme Court, which cited doubts about his citizenship. The ruling set off days of fighting last week that left at least 20 people dead. Ouattara insists that he’s Ivorian.

The accord called on the opposition group to instruct its militants to restore calm in exchange for a weeklong delay in the vote, allowing the party to resume campaigning and file its appeal on Ouattara’s candidacy.

Ouattara’s support comes mainly from ethnic groups in the largely Muslim north, while Gbagbo’s government is mostly composed of southern Christians.