Ivorians voted yesterday to elect a new parliament in a poll boycotted by the party of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo, who is awaiting trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity.

We have given no call for violence or to prevent voters from voting

The vote comes a year after conflict over a presidential election brought the world’s top cocoa producer to the brink of civil war and follows a bloodstained campaign that left five people dead in the final week.

Turnout was weak but no incidents had been reported, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said. About 5.7 million of a population of 21 million were eligible to vote.

Polling stations, watched over by 150 international and 3,000 Ivorian observers, closed around 5 p.m. and the results are expected by mid-week. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara had urged voters to ignore the boycott call. The new Parliament, he said, would be “truly consensual (and) democratic ... and contribute to the strengthening of democracy in our country.

“These elections are totally transparent and inclusive as we have more than 1,000 candidates for 255 seats.”

Mr Gbagbo’s supporters backed out of the election their leader was flown to The Hague to await trial on alleged crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC). That boycott meant that the coalition backing Mr Ouattara was widely expected to gain a majority of the 255 seats in the new assembly.

“I came to vote so that Ivory Coast can find peace again,” said Mathieu Kouakou, a mechanic, after he cast his ballot in Abidjan’s bustling Adjame district. But Laurent Akoun, spokesman of Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said the low turnout proved that the government is “illegitimate”.“The masquerade has thrived. We are staying in our corner. We have given no call for violence or to prevent voters from voting,” he said.

“Do you think that after this election we can speak of democracy in Ivory Coast?” said a Gbagbo supporter in the Abidjan district of Yopougon, observing the party’s poll boycott by downing a few beers with FPI members.