Presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire: an election day peppered with incidents
Assessors await voters in an office in Yougon, Abidjan, October 31, 2020. REUTERS / Luc Gnago
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Nearly 7.5 million voters were called to the polls this Saturday, October 31 in Côte d'Ivoire for the first round of the presidential election.
A ballot boycotted by the opposition, which called for civil disobedience.
Publicity
Read more
Voting day in Côte d'Ivoire was marked by low turnout in places and incidents.
In Abidjan, between boycott and fear of violence, many Ivorians still had not voted at midday in some neighborhoods.
In an office in Cocody, where our special
correspondent Alexandra Brangeon
visited at the beginning of the afternoon, only about twenty people had voted out of the 400 registered.
Same observation in the surrounding offices.
►
To read also: Ivory Coast: relive the first round of the presidential election
A few incidents were also recorded in the capital, in particular in the Blockhaus district, deemed favorable to the opposition.
At least one office had to be closed.
116 recorded incidents
Incidents have also been reported in the rest of the country.
According to the civil society organization Indigo, which has deployed more than 1,000 observers in the field, 21% of polling stations across the country had still not opened at noon.
Indigo recorded 116 incidents at midday.
In Yamoussoukro, Daoukrou or Bongouanou, opposition demonstrators thus prevented the opening of offices.
In Vavoa, Agboville, Adzopé, Daloa, electoral material was ransacked.
The exact extent of these incidents is unknown, as observers were unable to expand everywhere.
In Yamoussoukro, for example, those at the Carter Center had to turn around, roadblocks having been erected across the city.
The Electoral Commission, it tempers.
"
The damage is minimal,
" said the President of the Commission at midday.
“
Barely 30 or 40 polling stations are concerned.
"
We have said that we do not agree with the fact that there is an election in Côte d'Ivoire.
In Bonoua, voting centers remained closed and some were ransacked
Pierre PintoBoris Vichith
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ivory Coast