Tense Ivory Coast awaits first poll results

A man cleans the ink off his finger after casting his vote in Abidjan November 28, 2010.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's electoral commission was expected to announce partial results of a close presidential election on Monday in an increasingly tense atmosphere with sporadic outbreaks of violence.

Residents in parts of Abidjan reported gunfire overnight as ambassadors launched a flurry of diplomatic activity to encourage incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara to accept the results of Sunday's run-off vote.

The race is seen as too close to call and, though it is meant to draw a line under nearly a decade of political crisis and economic stagnation, it has triggered conflict and tensions in the world's biggest cocoa grower, divided by a 2002-2003 war.

"Contrary to the first round which pleased all the observers, the second round has come to demonstrate the long and difficult road we still have to negotiate to bring peace back into hearts and minds," state-owned Fraternite Matin daily wrote.

"The reunification of the country remains an aspiration."

The streets of the economic hub Abidjan were calm on Monday, and witnesses reported less activity and traffic than usual.

Traders in London cited the tensions in Ivory Coast as a factor as cocoa futures rose, with March up $29 at $2,823 a ton in early trade on Monday morning.

Five members of the security forces were killed in the west of the country, shortly before vote counting got under way, two security officials and Gbagbo's campaign director said. At least seven other people have been killed in the run-up to the vote.

The opposition and ruling parties exchanged accusations of intimidation in each other's areas during voting. Gbagbo's camp said it will lodge complaints with the country's top court and Ouattara's campaign complained of systematic intimidation.

One diplomat monitoring the process said such moves could pave the way for a subsequent challenge to the results, although it was still not clear how serious any problems were.

"There were some voters prevented from voting. Whether that is massive or not, I don't know," the diplomat added, saying that envoys had repeated calls for the results to be respected in overnight meetings with both candidates.

As polls closed, groups of youths had gathered at polling stations saying they wanted to prevent rivals stealing ballots.

"The security forces were everywhere in Abobo last night. As the night went on, the tension mounted," said Yves Doumbia, an official in the mayor's office in a pro-Ouattara neighborhood.

"Three youth working to protect the ballots for (Ouattara's) RDR party were shot and some supporters were beaten."

DIVISIVE POLL

The election is meant to heal ethnic and regional divisions between north and south that lay behind the war. But the neck and neck battle between Gbagbo, a southerner, and Ouattara, a northerner whose support lies mostly in the rebel-held north, has merely seemed to highlight those divisions.

An overnight curfew called by Gbagbo, and criticized by the opposition as intimidatory, led to a slow start to voting on Sunday. Observers said the turnout was around 65-70 percent, down from the first round when over 80 percent of Ivory Coast's 5.7 million voters turned out.

The electoral commission is under pressure to announce results as soon as they come in from across the country, and has said it will start giving partial results on later on Monday.

"From around midday (1200 GMT) we should be well placed to start giving results. We don't yet know at time we will start," said electoral commission deputy spokesman Nicolas Coulibaly.

Election observers held late evening talks with U.N. mission chief Y.J. Choi after reports of irregularities, including, the head of the E.U. mission Cristian Dan Preda said, roadblocks, tensions in the polling booths, and a lack of materials.

"Given the history of this place there is every reason to be concerned but it also ought to be manageable," said an international observer who could not be named.

"You have a large international presence and everybody -- the UN, AU (African Union) and donors, on the same page."

(Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; editing by Giles Elgood)