President Gbagbo’s decision following a spat with the electoral commission over voter registration is certain to delay yet again a presidential election that was scheduled for early March.
Frustration is growing at years of delays to a vote meant to restore peace to West Africa’s former economic hub, after a 2002-3 war divided it between Gbagbo’s government and rebels who control the north.
The opposition has called for big street protests, raising the spectre of violence in the world’s top cocoa grower.
In the main city of Abidjan, a protester seized and set fire to a bus belonging to a national transport company.
“There was a vandal amongst the bus passengers who sprayed the bus with flammable liquid,” said Thomas Koffi, the transport company manager.
“Ever since the president’s decision to dissolve the government and CEI (electoral commission) by the government, we’ve been confronted by these acts of vandalism.”
In the central towns of Daoukro, Dimbokro and M’Bahiakro, independent witnesses told Reuters by phone that that about 1,000 demonstrators had marched though each town.
Protesters said they had blocked routes and burned tyres.
“There must be around a thousand youths marching through the streets,” said cocoa farmer Paul Konan in Daoukro.
Protester Evariste Konan said his comrades had blocked roads and activity in the town.
A resident of the town of M’Bahiakro, Bernard Yao Kouassi, who witnessed the demonstration there, also said there were about 1,000 people. Serges Kouakou, primary teacher in Dimbokro, gave a similar figure for that protest.
“We denounce Laurent Gbagbo,” Clement Oka, a protester in Dimbokro told Reuters. “We burned tyres. We will continue to protest and say no to Gbagbo, who is no longer our president.”
The election has been repeatedly delayed since 2005. Prime Minister Guillaume Soro is expected to announce a new government this week. It is not clear when a new electoral commission will be established.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc urged a swift resolution to the electoral register dispute on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore, the mediator in the Ivorian crisis, has publicly called on President Gbagbo to quickly re-launch stalled election preparations.
Mr Compaore issued the rare public appeal today, days after Gbagbo dissolved both the government and the election commission in a move that is certain to delay a March poll and has sparked protests in the world’s top cocoa producer.
“(The facilitator would like) to encourage President Laurent Gbagbo to act quickly to re-launch the electoral process to preserve progress made so far and ... and ensure it is completed,” Compaore said in a statement issued in Ouagadougou.
Compaore brokered a 2007 deal between Gbagbo, rebels still controlling the north of the country, and his civilian rivals, an accord seen as Ivory Coast’s best shot at peace and reunification since the civil war of 2002-2003 divided the nation in two.
The Burkinabe leader called on Prime Minister Soro, who must now pick a new government, to ensure no one was excluded from the process. He also called on politicians, the media and the population to remain calm.