IVORY COAST-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN ENDS Ivory Coast presidential candidates wrap up election campaign

Record ID: 135415

  • Title: IVORY COAST-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN ENDS Ivory Coast presidential candidates wrap up election campaign
  • Date: 23rd October 2015
  • Summary: YOUNG MAN DISTRIBUTING POSTERS TO PEOPLE IN VEHICLE CHILDREN HOLDING POSTERS
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAERL5UWR1VTYJP7YB5ANSBJD11
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ivory Coast presidential candidates wrapped up their election campaigns in the commercial capital Abidjan on Friday (October 23) as Ivorians prepared to head to the polls on Sunday (October 25).
    President Alassane Ouattara, who is heavily favoured to win, ended his re-election campaign with a star-studded concert, calling on his supporters to turn out massively to vote amid fears many will stay home.
    Tens of thousands of Ivorians lined Abidjan streets to catch a glimpse of Ouattara as his caravan made its way to the central Place de la Republic where his final campaign event was held.
    Sunday's ballot is meant to draw a line under a decade-long crisis which ended in a brief 2011 civil war that killed over 3,000 people in the wake of the last presidential vote.
    A peaceful election is crucial to reassuring investors who have flooded into the nation, francophone West Africa's largest economy and the world's leading cocoa exporter, as it has re-emerged as one of the continent's rising stars.
    "I want the election to go well, we don't want war. We have been at war before and it's enough. The candidates, whoever wins and those who don't win, must just accept (the result). We want peace in Ivory Coast, we only want peace, no more talk," fruit seller Fanta Doumbia said.
    Independent candidate Jacqueline Claire Kouangoua urged people to remain united in order to ensure a peaceful election.
    "My message is to promote peace because if we don't take peace seriously and if we are not united, everything will be destroyed. We should avoid starting over, we must protect what we already have. That's why I am sending out a call to say that when it comes to security, it's the women who have the key to the solution, because we have the solutions, whereas men are only just about talk. They should know that we have the solution and we will do anything to feed our children. That is why we say no, we don't want war in Ivory Coast, the last war set us back," she said.
    Early this year, Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans (RDR) secured the support of its main coalition partner, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), which is not fielding a candidate on Sunday.
    The Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to accept Ouattara's 2010 election victory sparked the civil war, is deeply divided.
    Former prime minister Charles Konan Banny also pulled out of the race for the presidency on Friday, becoming the third of 10 candidates to withdraw, alleging irregularities.
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