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Côte
d'Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara (R) says the revised constitution could
end years of stability ©Sia Kambou (AFP)
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Côte d'Ivoire is expected
to announce Tuesday the result of an opposition-boycotted weekend referendum on
constitutional changes that President Alassane Ouattara says will help end
years of instability.
AFP
report continues:
The
package put to the country's 6.3 million voters has alarmed opposition leaders
and prompted accusations that Ouattara is trying to line up a successor for
when his term ends in 2020.
The
independent electoral commission was expected to announce the results of the
final 15 of 31 voting districts at 1330 GMT.
Although
a victory for the proposals is not seen as being in doubt, given the opposition
boycott, questions remain as to how large the turnout will have been and how
legitimate the outcome will appear.
The
opposition has said it believes only around six or seven percent of voters took
part.
Ouattara's
revised constitution would create a vice president picked by the president, and
set up a senate, a third of whom would be nominated by the head of state.
It
would also get rid of a contested clause on national identity that took effect
in 2000 and stipulates that both parents of a presidential candidate must be
born on Côte d'Ivoire soil and not have sought nationality in another country.
The
issue has contributed to years of unrest in the West African country.
Violent
episodes include a coup in 1999, a civil war in 2002 that split the country
between its north and south and a bloody post-election crisis in 2010.
The
most recent eruption led to months of post-poll bloodshed with then-president
Laurent Gbagbo refusing to step down.
Some
3,000 people died and Gbagbo is now on trial in The Hague for war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
Ouattara
hails from central Côte d'Ivoire but his father was born in neighbouring
Burkina Faso and the issue of "Ivorian-ness" raised a hurdle in his
bid for the presidency.
He eventually overcame this obstacle through a decree Gbagbo was pressured to sign by the international community.
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