RDR neighborhood but had never had problems with Dioula or RDR people before. That night we left and spent the night at the gendarme base. VI. THE DECEMBER PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS By the beginning of November, and following calls for calm by both FPI and RDR leaders, political tension had largely been diffused. Police and gendarmes released hundreds of detainees from bases throughout Abidjan. Nevertheless, throughout November, scores of family members continued to search hospitals, morgues, and detention facilities for their missing relatives. The December parliamentary election period was characterized by a further breakdown in the rule of law. During this period, state agents and their political supporters, encouraged by the impunity they had enjoyed in October, perpetrated similar and in some cases worse acts of violence. While the December wave of violence was characterized by fewer killings, there were more cases of detention, sexual violence, and religious persecution. At least one RDR official was killed and scores more, including several high-level representatives, were imprisoned. Also, by December, there was a consolidation in the relationship between the security forces and the youth wing of Gbagbo’s party, the FPI, with the latter enjoying complete immunity from arrest even after committing atrocities in the presence of gendarmes and police. Human Rights Watch documented forty-two deaths during the December violence, considerably higher than the official estimate of the Ivorian government — twenty deaths — or of the RDR, who believed some thirty of their supporters had died. 63 As Ouattara and the RDR prepared to participate in the December 10, 2000 parliamentary elections, a December 1, 2000, Supreme Court decision again barred Ouattara from standing, again because of questions about his citizenship.64 The RDR secretary-general, Henriette Diabaty, condemned the ruling: “The decision is illegal and completely arbitrary. We have been patient…we cannot accept such a decision and we affirm that the party’s chairman cannot be excluded from his country’s political process.”65 In response to their leader’s exclusion, the RDR withdrew their candidates from the election and called for a demonstration on December 4, 2000. The government reacted by declaring the demonstration illegal and Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou announced a ban on all anti-election protests from December 5 through December 11, 2000.66 On December 3, 2000, after holding discussions with the government, the RDR agreed to call off its planned march and replace it with a public meeting to be held the next day, at the Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in the city center.67 From the early morning hours of December 4, 2000, thousands of RDR supporters gathered in their neighborhoods. Given the potential for violence, public transportation was almost entirely unavailable, leaving demonstrators no other alternative but to walk. As the demonstrators left their neighborhoods, they were met by police and gendarmes who had deployed in and around major roads and highways. The motive of the deployment was apparently to stop the RDR supporters from reaching the stadium. An RDR activist explained:68 63 “Gbagbo Orders Investigation of Torture Allegations,” Panafrican News Agency, December 15, 2000. Ruling by Tia Koné in relation to Alassane Dramane Ouattara (Arret de Tia Koné relatif á Alassane Dramane Ouattara), Abidjan, November 30, 2000. 65 “Ivory Coast: Focus on the Latest Electoral Crisis,” U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)-West Africa, December 4, 2000. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. 64 Human Rights Watch 36 August 2001, Vol. 13, No. 6(A)