Gbagbo dissolves government and electoral commission

Côte d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo dissolved the country's government and electoral commission on Friday. Speaking on national television he called on Prime Minister Guillaume Soro to form a new government before next Monday evening.

Reuters

Gbagbo said the country's peace process was "once again, broken" and his comments came one day after Soro announced the suspension of voter registration.

Voting in the country's presidential election, repeatedly postponed since 2005, was due to take place at the end of February or early March.

Gbagbo's announcement was strongly criticised by by Niamkey Koffi of the PDCI (Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire) who said the President had undone progress in the country's peace process and had "sawn off the branch on which he was sitting".

Koffi said his party would consider its course of action on Saturday.

Anne Ouloto, spokesperson for the RDR (Rassemblement des républicains) said that Gbagbo has shown that "he has no intention of going to the polls".

The dissolution of the country's electoral commission comes after its president, Robert Beugré Mambé, was accused of "fraud" in the drawing up of voter lists.

Gbagbo said the peace process had been "taken hostage by political process" and accused Beugré Membé of carrying out "an illegal operation aimed at obtaining the fraudulent inscription of 429,030 people on the electoral list".