Ivory Coast accuses opposition of sedition for creating parallel government

The move deepens a bitter and sometimes deadly standoff over Ouattara's bid for a third term that led the opposition to boycott Saturday's vote and then reject its results. Late on Monday, the candidates who boycotted the vote - former president Henri Konan Bedie and ex-prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan - announced they had set up what they called a transitional council.

Ivory Coast's government on Tuesday accused its opponents of sedition for creating a parallel administration in defiance of President Alassane Ouattara's landslide election win and asked prosecutors to pursue criminal charges. The move deepens a bitter and sometimes deadly standoff over Ouattara's bid for a third term that led the opposition to boycott Saturday's vote and then reject its results.

Late on Monday, the candidates who boycotted the vote - former president Henri Konan Bedie and ex-prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan - announced they had set up what they called a transitional council. "Condemning in the strongest terms this act of sedition, the government has called on the prosecutor," to bring those responsible to justice, the government said in a statement.

The run-up to the election was marred by clashes between rival supporters that killed at least 30 people. At least five died in election-day violence. The violence spurred fears of longer-term unrest. A brief civil war following the disputed election in 2010 that brought Ouattara to power killed over 3,000 people.

His bid for a third term was rejected as unconstitutional by the opposition. Ouattara said a new constitution approved in 2016 gave him the right to run again. Ouattara won the election with 94.27% of the vote, according to results announced by the electoral commission early on Tuesday. The figures still have to be validated by the country's constitutional council.