Ivory Coast authorities promised to announce delayed results Wednesday in the landmark presidential election, amid ears of unrest after disruptions and accusations of voting abuses.

After allies of President Laurent Gbagbo blocked an earlier announcement, the electoral commission said it would give results from the second-round vote this morning, which the rival camp accused Mr Gbagbo of trying to rig.

Troops have redeployed to secure the main city Abidjan, which remained tense and quiet Wednesday, awaiting the results of the polls that seek to end a decade of instability in Ivory Coast, the world's biggest cocoa producer.

Chaotic scenes
The commission is legally obliged to announce a winner by the end of the day. Chaotic scenes prevented results being announced on Tuesday amid mutual accusations of cheating by both sides.

A supporter of Mr Gbagbo in the commission, Damana Adia Pickass, seized papers with the results from the hands of a spokesman who was about to read them out and tore them up, before the spokesman was escorted away by police.

Earlier on Tuesday security forces surrounded the commission's headquarters and barred reporters from entering, while the RTI state television channel that was to broadcast the results also abandoned the building.

"These results are false, they have not been consolidated," Mr Adia Pickass said, alleging an "electoral hold-up," in front of reporters waiting to hear the results on Tuesday evening.

Troops
Hundreds of army and former rebel troops previously dispatched from either side of the north-south political divide to secure the vote together pulled back to their strongholds, senior army officer Rene Sacko told reporters on Tuesday.

He said 1,500 members of the loyalist national army headed south back to Abidjan from the rebel-controlled north and the same number from the former rebel New Forces were withdrawing in the opposite direction.

“Confiscation of power”
The camp of challenger Alassane Ouattara earlier accused Mr Gbagbo of attempting a "confiscation of power". "There is an attempt to prevent the electoral commission from declaring the results. The officials from Laurent Gbagbo's camp have put up resistance," spokesman Albert Mabri Toikeusse told a news conference.

"We can see therefore that Laurent Gbagbo is aiming for a confiscation of power and aiming to drive the country once again into chaos,” he said, but added: "Victory will not elude us."

Intimidation
The presidential election is intended to end years of crisis in the west African country, which was split in two when former rebels of the New Forces took control of the north after a foiled coup bid against Mr Gbagbo in 2002. The poll was marred by violence that killed at least seven people and by allegations of cheating.

Mr Ouattara's RDR party said voters had been intimidated by security forces and barred from voting, alleging that ballot papers had been tampered with.

Mr Gbagbo's side in turn accused Ouattara supporters of raiding voting stations in the north and wants the commission to annul the vote in at least three regions.

Some abuses
International observers confirmed there were some abuses, but the head of the UN mission in the country, Choi Young-jin, said the vote had been conducted democratically overall.

Calls for calm multiplied amid fears that violence could escalate, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urging Ivorian leaders "to act responsibly and peacefully."

Source: AFP