Ivory Coast's main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who was controversially banned from running in a parliamentary poll on Sunday, has said both presidential and general elections should be rerun.
Ouattara, whose exclusion from the election triggered a second wave of bloodshed in two months, told French TV5 television late Tuesday: "I think it is in all our interests to rerun both these elections."
The former prime minister and leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) was barred from running in both polls, on the grounds of doubts over his nationality. His opponents claim he is Burkinabe, not Ivorian, which he denies.
The latest Supreme Court ruling against Ouattara, announced a week before the poll, unleashed violence between his supporters, government backers and the security forces.
Dozens of people were killed in clashes in Abidjan and in the mainly Muslim north of the country, which is the RDR heartland. The unrest led to arrests and a crackdown by the police and the army.
The RDR then boycotted the poll.
Just after presidential elections in October, Ouattara supporters calling for the vote to be rerun, clashed violently with police and supporters of the new President Laurent Gbagbo and at least 100 people were killed.
Ouattara is currently in the former colonial power France.
Final results for Sunday's elections have still to come, but with most in, Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) will be the dominant force.
So far, the FPI has 91 seats while the former ruling Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) has 70. Parliament has 225 seats -- PARIS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)