Voting has begun in the West African nation in a heated election to elect 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara to a fourth term.
Voters in Ivory Coast are voting for president and incumbent Alassane Ouattara is the heavy favorite as he runs for president. Fourth term.
Nearly nine million Ivorians will vote on Saturday from 8am to 6pm (08:00 to 18:00 GMT), choosing from a field of five contenders.
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The opposition, however, is not interested in this post. Former president Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane thiam Standing is prohibited, the former having a criminal conviction and the latter acquiring French citizenship.
Critics say the exclusion of major candidates has given the 83-year-old Ouattara an unfair advantage and paved the way for his fourth term.
None of his four rivals represent an established party or have access to the ruling Rally of Houphouetistes of Democracy and Peace (RHDP).
Agriculturalist and former trade minister Jean-Louis Billon, 60, hopes to unite supporters of his former party, the Democratic Party, while former first lady Simone Ehiwet Gbagbo, 76, is seeking votes from her ex-husband’s supporters.
The leftist opinion is balanced between Gbagbo and Ahoua Don Mello, a civil engineer and independent Pan-Africanist with Russian sympathies. Henriette Lago Adjoua, one of the first two women to run for president during the 2015 elections, represents a centrist coalition, a group of political partners for peace.
At the Riviera Golf 1 primary school in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s financial capital, where Gbagbo is expected to vote, the atmosphere was quiet as the first voters lined up early on Saturday.
“This vote is very important for us,” Konate Adama told Al Jazeera. “We need a candidate to get out of these elections. It will lead us to peace, wisdom and tranquility.”
The vote will be crucial as the opposition has called for a boycott. About 8.7 million people over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in a country of 33 million with an average age of 18.3.
A candidate must get an absolute majority to win. If no one clears that hurdle, there will be a second round.
Controversial fourth term
Results are expected early next week, and observers are predicting more than the 50 percent needed to win in the first round.
The octogenarian has held sway among the world’s top cocoa producers since 2011, when the country began to reassert itself as a West African economic powerhouse.
According to the Constitution, the President can serve a maximum of two terms. Ouattara argued that a major constitutional change implemented in 2016 “reset” his limits.
This decision has angered his opponents. Opposition and civil society groups also complain of sanctions and a climate of intimidation against Ouattara’s critics.
Around 44,000 security forces were deployed across the country to quell protests, particularly in opposition strongholds in the south and west. There was a Friday and Saturday night curfew in the region, the political capital of Yamoussoukro.
Officials said they wanted to avoid a repeat of “chaos” and unrest around the 2020 presidential election. According to official figures, 85 people died then, while opponents said more than 200 died.
Opposition parties have encouraged Ivorians to protest Ouattara’s projected fourth term. On Monday, the Independent Election Commission building was burnt.
The government has responded by banning the demonstrations, and the judiciary has sentenced several dozen people to three years in prison for disturbing the peace.
In 2010, the country was plunged into conflict after a presidential election between Gbagbo and Ouattara in which at least 3,000 people were killed.