Cote D’Ivoire ruling party wins majority in parliamentary elections

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Cote D’Ivoire

Cote D’Ivoire’s ruling party won 58% of seats in parliamentary elections, results showed on Sunday, strengthening President Alassane Ouattara’s hand to pursue his political agenda.

Quattara’s allies faced a combined challenge from opposition parties led by two of his predecessors, Henri Konan Bedie and Laurent Gbagbo, but they failed to mount a sufficient challenge.

Quattara’s Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party took 147 of 255 seats.

The poll comes only months after Ouattara won a third term in an election marred by unrest that killed at least 85 people, the country’s worst violence since a 2010-2011 civil war.

Ouattara now aims to pursue an agenda based on attracting investment to the world’s top cocoa producer.