Ivorians are heading to the polls today to exercise their franchise in what is described as controversial presidential election.
This year’s elections has been characterized by disagreements and violence. Prior to today there have been scenes of violence and tension in that country.
The Presidents of Cote d’Ivoire are elected for a five year term using the two round system. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a second round will be held.
A write up on Cote d’Ivoire Presidential elections today.
At least 14 people have been killed since riots broke out in August after President Alassane Ouattara said he would run again following the sudden death of his preferred successor.
The main opposition candidates, Pascal Affi N’Guessan and Henri Konan Bédié, say it is illegal for Mr Ouattara to stand for a third term.
They are boycotting the vote and have called for civil disobedience.
Ouattara had initially intended to stand down from politics ahead of the 2020 poll and pass power on to “the next generation.”
However, when his anointed successor Amadou Gon Coulibaly died suddenly in July, he said he would stand in his place.
The opposition has perceived this as deeply controversial because the constitution allows for only two presidential terms, and yet this will be Ouattara’s third, should he win.
Ouattara claims he can stand for a third term because a new constitution was introduced in 2016, effectively resetting term limits early in his second term.
By contrast, Gbagbo, although he had sought to stand, was disqualified on Sept. 14, along with 39 other politicians who had declared their candidacies.
Meanwhile, Bédié and Pascal Affi N’Guessan, two of the only four candidates who were allowed to run, have called for an “active boycott” of the election, indicating that their supporters should use all legal means to prevent the vote from taking place.
The only remaining participant who will contest the poll against Ouattara is Kouadio Konan Bertin, an independent candidate who commands little broad support. Ouattara has succeeded where Gbagbo could not in 2010.
He has made the election into a one-horse race.
Although Gbagbo had repeatedly delayed the 2010 election during Ivory Coast’s lengthy civil war that occurred between 2002 and 2011, he eventually agreed to face off against both Ouattara and Bédié.
Gbagbo was president of a nation at the time that was divided between north and south, and in which French and U.N. troops manned a cease-fire line in the middle of the country
