The move is meant to put the country back on the path to elections.

The announcement followed days of demonstrations against President Laurent Gbagbo´s decision on February 12 to dissolve the government and the electoral commission, which delayed a poll already years overdue and which had been loosely set for March.

Some local newspapers in Abidjan hailed the new government as a success while others saw it as unbalanced.

One Ivorian said he believed the government was only a symbolic move as its mandate is quite limited.

Another saw the new government as a move towards calm.

Many senior positions were occupied by the same people as before, with Charles Koffi Diby retaining the Finance Ministry, Dsir Assgnini Tagro the Interior Ministry, and Michel N´Guessan Amani the Defence Ministry.

Addressing journalists after the announcement, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said opposition Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) of presidential candidate Henri Konan Bedie and the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) of candidate Alassane Ouattara had ministries in the government.