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Despite boycott, elections hold in Cote D’Ivoire
By Tasie Theodore
Despite a boycott called by the main opposition parties, elections opened this Saturday morning in Cote D’Ivoire, The Difference can report.
Incumbent President Alasane Ouattara has dismissed the boycott, saying that having applied to participate in the polls process in the first place, the latter-day change of heart by the opposition is inconsequential.
The opposition is protesting the controversial amendment of the constitution to allow President Ouattara run for a third term in office and the disqualification of 40 out of 44 presidential candidates that had applied to run in the polls.
Observers say that the test of the success or otherwise of the boycott however would be seen in the overall voter turn out as well as the management of tensions in notable opposition strongholds during and after the polls.
In a final pre-election call, leading global rights body, Amnesty international tasked the authorities to ensure that the rights of citizens are protected before, during and after the polls.
The call is even more timely given the continuing crisis in another West African nation, Guinea, where the opposition has continued to denounce the outcome of a recent poll in that country that gave incumbent President Alpha Conde a disputed third term win with more protests of the outcome scheduled to continue on Monday.
Over a dozen people had died in the pre-elections protests phase in Cote D’Ivoire.
Disqualified: Former President Laurent Gbagbo
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