IVORY COAST: Ivorians peacefully heading towards second round in presidential elections

Record ID: 181827

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Ivorians peacefully heading towards second round in presidential elections
  • Date: 5th November 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA36RKTITRK7GYML63KTOKLIIVJ
  • Story Text: News that Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara will face each other in a run-off will ease tensions in the short term, but paves the way for a hotly-contested vote later this month.
    According to provisional results announced on Thursday (November 4), Gbagbo took 38.3 percent of the vote. With no absolute majority, he will take on Ouattara, who came second with 32.08 percent.
    Third-placed Henri Konan Bedie challenged the results before they were even announced, and demanded a recount of a poll meant to draw a line under a crisis sparked by a 2002-3 civil war.
    "It's already a step forward, I think the second tour will go well, it's already something positive. I wish that the candidates who lose don't contest the results because the results came out of the ballot box. So they need to be accepted so that the country moves forward, that would be good for all of us," said Franck Azokou, a student who seemed to reflect the view of thousands of Ivorians, who are calmly accepting the idea of a second round.
    With Gbagbo through to the second round, the chances of widespread street violence are drastically lowered. Security analysts say Gbagbo would have been unlikely to accept losing, either in the event of him coming third or of someone else winning outright.
    This would have been a humiliation; the opposition had accused him of delaying the poll for years for fear of losing.
    All eyes will now turn to how far Bedie, who scored 25.2 percent in the poll and cried foul, will contest the result.
    "We're not afraid of the second round because we don't believe in a true union at the heart of the RHDP. We are not afraid, we don't see Bedie calling his supporters to the vote, and even if that happened it wouldn't be serious. So RHDP doesn't scare us, it doesn't scare us and we have every chance," said Gbagbo supporter Kakou Ourega.
    All three candidates are under a huge amount of international pressure to accept the results for the sake of peace.
    The constitutional court's head Paul Yao N'Dre, who must deal with challenges and rule on the validity of the result within two weeks, is a stalwart of Gbagbo's party.
    That won't necessarily affect his ruling, but it is unlikely to help Bedie's cause.
    Fears of violence have shut down cocoa export operations in the world's top cocoa grower, causing global cocoa futures prices to spike. But most exporters say they will resume operations if things stay calm.
    In Gagnoa, one of the cocoa-growing regions of Ivory Coast, the atmosphere was calm and everybody was going on about their business as usual on Thursday morning.
    Some residents complained of voter intimidation in the villages around Gagnoa.
    "They should let our parents in the countryside vote, they shouldn't pressurise them so they don't vote for RDR, or make them vote for FPI, saying that if they voted the other they will destroy their crops, or kill them, that's not good, that's hurting me, it's not what we call democracy," driver Adama Bamba said.
    "I think they are still ready to go towards violence. I think they should maintain the pressure on militants as we've done so far, so that we keep the peace, always the peace," Gagnoa resident Pacoa Guei said.
    Both winning camps will already be looking to implement strategies they have for securing votes for the run-off.
    Ouattara has, in theory, a head start. His party and Bedie's signed a deal that requires one to back the other if they lose.
    Whether voters will respect that deal is another question.
    It is not clear how many of Bedie's supporters, drawn largely from the central Baoule tribe, will back a northerner -- and one who has been accused of having links to the rebellion.
    This is an accusation Ouattara has struggled to shake.
    After a relatively restrained campaign ahead of the first round, under heavy local and international scrutiny, no punches will be pulled in a run-off with so much at stake.
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