Presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire: stakes and challenges of an election under pressure

Participation, electoral system, security ... The presidential election of October 31 faces many challenges.

(illustrative image) ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

5 mins

Ivorians are called to the polls this Saturday, October 31 for a presidential election under pressure.

Alassane Ouattara is seeking a third term against an independent KKB candidate, Kouadio Konan Bertin.

And the opposition, which challenges the conditions in which the ballot is held, calls for preventing the holding of this election.

Publicity

Read more

with our correspondents and special envoys,

The main question of this day is that of participation.

Some 7.5 million registered voters are called to the polls this Saturday, but the presence of Ivorians in the polling stations is uncertain.

The opposition has been

for two weeks and is keen to prevent the election from taking place.

She believes that Alassane Ouattara does not have the right to stand there, and accuses the Electoral Commission of being subservient to power.

Many voters will also abstain for fear of violence.

The last few months have indeed been marked by political unrest, sometimes deadly.

The NGO Indigo, one of the structures observing this election, has recorded nearly 150 incidents in recent weeks.

This Friday again, Yamoussoukro, the political capital, was the scene of tensions.

Barricades blocked certain axes there.

Unrest was also reported in the town of Bonoua about sixty kilometers east of Abidjan.

In the economic capital the psychosis is palpable.

The streets of Abidjan are unusually empty at night.

Many

few days.

Others have stocked up on basic necessities in shops or supermarkets.

35,000 men deployed for security

The Minister of Security Vagondo Domandé gave Friday details on the evolution of the operation "trumpeting the elephant" composed of 35,000 members of the police and responsible for ensuring the security of this ballot under high voltage.

The Minister of Security assured that the security conditions are met to allow Ivorians to go and vote and that all arrangements have been made to secure the ballot until the end of the process.

However, he wished to warn the troublemakers.

What remains to be done is the management of the day on Saturday, October 31, 2020. At this level, all arrangements have been made to allow each citizen to go and vote in peace and quiet. .

Vagondo Diomandé, Ivorian Minister of Security

François Hume-Ferkatadji

General Vagondo Diomandé said that the army contributed to the delivery of the electoral system.

Because the implementation of this device is another key element of the ballot.

Is the electoral system in place?

By the admission of the Independent Electoral Commission, the acts of civil disobedience by opposition activists

, with less than half of the 7.5 million citizens registered on the lists who were able to withdraw their precious sesame.

But for Emile Ebrottié, spokesperson for the CEI, most of the electoral material, ballot boxes, voting booths and ballots among others, could be deployed in the field despite the opposition's slogan.

The Platform of Civil Society Organizations for the Observation of Elections in Côte d'Ivoire makes the same observation, and adds that some local CEIs, such as in Yamoussoukro, have been vandalized.

Sites that will be operational again this Saturday morning, assures the Commission.

But the opposition also promises to prevent the holding of the vote.

It remains to be seen how much this could affect the turnout.

In this context, the participation figures are of greater importance than in normal times, since a large part of the legitimacy of the winner will depend on them.

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

• Ivory Coast Politics

On the same subject

Africa report

Presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire: what rate of participation of women in the ballot?

ANALYSIS

Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo, the card of the unifying opponent

Reports

Ivory Coast: in Bouaké and Abidjan, concern points before the election