The FPI party of former President Laurent Gbabgo boycotted yesterday’s polls.

Over five million Ivorians yesterday, April 21, 2013 went to the polls to elect local mayors and presidents of regional councils, 11 years after the last such elections were organised, BBC reported.

Voting in Bouaké in the centre of the country, a community leader, Robert Kouladé, expressed hope that Ivorians had learnt a lesson from the past and would avoid incidents that could prevent the country from taking the path of what he described as true democracy. The election was boycotted by the Ivorian Popular Front, FPI party of former President Laurent Gbagbo which late last month had called on its supporters not to participate, complaining that the government unilaterally fixed the date.

FPI Secretary General, Richard Kodjo, had earlier warned that any party member caught participating in the process will be sanctioned, APA news agency said. FPI members who opted to stand as independent candidates were expelled from the party. According to the AFP news agency, the campaign witnessed some incidents of violence, verbal exchanges between candidates and cases of intimidation, all condemned by the U.N. The electoral commission says all results are expected by the middle of next week.

FPI has repeatedly said that all conditions have not yet been met for the conduct of fair, all-inclusive and transparent elections in Côte d’Ivoire and has been calling for a general amnesty. The Ivorian government is yet to respond to the calls. The former ruling party has also been denouncing what it sees as the incompetence and illegality of the electoral commission after the 2011 legislative polls. FPI boycotted the December 2011 polls that were largely won by the RDR party of President Alassane Outtara.