NotimegistNEWS [ABIDJAN] --Ivorian President Alassane Quattara has expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the first post-civil war elections that is seen as crucial to turning the page on a decade-long political crisis and a civil war in 2011.
The election commission has extended voting in Sunday's presidential poll after logistical problems in many areas delayed the start of the vote, .
President Alassane Ouattara and presidential candidate whose leadership has helped the West African nation re-emerge as a rising economic star on the continent, is facing a divided opposition and is heavily favoured to win re-election.
However, there were concerns that a boycott by part of the opposition coupled with voter apathy could result in low turnout.
As a commodities crash has caused other African economies to crumble, investors have flooded into the world's top cocoa grower, drawn by growth around 9 percent over the past three years. They are likely to be reassured by the vote, which observers said was overwhelmingly free of violence.
"For the moment we are quite satisfied that everything is going ahead without any major incidents," said Mariam Dao Gabela, chairperson of the Peace-CI civil society elections observer project.
More than 6 million Ivorians are registered to vote at some 20,000 polling stations nationwide.
"We must ensure that we emerge from this election with peace and serenity and unite even more in order to take on the further challenges awaiting the nation," Ouattara said after voting in the Cocody district of the commercial capital Abidjan.
Voting, which was officially set to have begun at 7 a.m. (0700 GMT), was delayed in many areas by the late arrival of materials, including ballots and ballot boxes.
An hour after the official start time, just 57 percent of polling stations were open, according to the POECI civil society observer platform. That had risen to 85 percent by 9.30 a.m.
Nearly a third of computer tablets, part of new technology introduced to verify voters' identities, also failed at some point during election day, POECI said.
As a result of the problems, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) prolonged voting by two hours to 7 p.m. in voting centres affected by the delays. Meanwhile, polling stations that opened on time began counting ballots.
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