Abidjan (NAN) The UN operations in Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday in Abidjan,  said legislative elections in the country were peaceful in most parts of the country in spite of low turn out of voters.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that most polling stations were empty as voters strolled in at their convenience.

The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN, Bert Koenders, said the organisation’s observer team and security report showed a peaceful ambience of voting.

He, however, noted an exception in Bonon, Boafle where he said armed men stormed some polling stations and made away with ballot boxes.

Koenders said the turn out for voting was low in almost all parts of the country.

The chairman of the electoral commission, Youssouf Bakayoko said the turn out of voters was about 35 per cent, with some polling stations recording as low as 15 per cent.

In a statement issued by the commission, the chairman, who monitored elections in some interior parts of the country, Grand Bassam and Aboisso, said Ivorians had generally not been keen on voting during legislative elections like the presidential elections.

NAN quotes the chairman as saying: “The figures we have so far of turnout is slightly lower than the figures we had for the presidential elections.

“But this can be understood, because in our country, the election of legislatures to the National Assembly has never been more mobilised than we had for presidential.

“We have a turnout of around of about 35 per cent. We must therefore assume that if one relies on this information, it is not really a bad situation.