IVORY COAST: Presidential candidate Laurent Gbagbo holds rally ahead of elections on Sunday

Record ID: 181879

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Presidential candidate Laurent Gbagbo holds rally ahead of elections on Sunday
  • Date: 27th November 2010
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST(NOVEMBER 26, 20100) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT GBAGBO RALLY MAN HOLDING GBAGBO POSTER AND SHOWING HIS TEE-SHIRT LAURENT GBAGBO ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE (French) INCUMBENT PRESIDENT LAURENT GBAGBO SAYING: "I'm calling all Ivorians to gather around peace, around Ivory-Coast, around justice and around the struggle against youth unemployment.'' VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS SHOUTING (SOUNDBITE) (French) GBAGBO SUPPORTER VALENTINE DJEDJE SAYING: "I think that my candidate it is the one that Ivory-Coast needs because it is him who made all the effort. He made the effort to go to peace and he is the real candidate of the country. It's him that we need, it's him who will restore the economy, its Laurent Gbagbo who will give us the economic independance we need. When there is economic independance there is competition and when there is competition there is perfection. It is Laurent Gbagbo that we need.'' MAN HOLDING GBAGBO POSTER. MORE OF PEOPLE AT RALLY
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5ASRHY3GYCX85QCVJP6ZCK1YE
  • Story Text: President Laurent Gbagbo held a large rally in Abidjan on Friday (November 26) ahead of run-off elections.
    Sunday's election in Ivory Coast will test whether the country can finally put a decade of north-south division behind it, as onlookers fear tension surrounding the poll may rekindle violence.
    President Laurent Gbagbo faces Alassane Ouattara, his rival from the rebel-controlled north, in a neck-and-neck second round that is likely to be disputed whatever the outcome.
    The election is meant to reunite Ivory Coast after the 2002-3 war which split this once prosperous West African nation.
    "I'm calling all Ivorians to gather around peace, around Ivory-Coast, around justice and around the struggle against youth unemployment,'' Gbagbo told supporters at the rally.
    A televised debate between Ouattara and Gbagbo overnight showed them being civil and polite to each other, but divisive campaign rhetoric by the two candidates and clashes between supporters this week have soured the mood.
    People at the rally were optimistic.
    "I think that my candidate it is the one that Ivory-Coast needs because it is him who made all the effort. He made the effort to go to peace and he is the real candidate of the country,'' said one woman.
    Many Ivorians remain deeply sceptical however of their leaders' commitment to reconciling a nation fractured by years of ethnic conflict, land tensions and a dispute over national identity.
    Polling stations open at 7 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday and close at 5 p.m. (1700 GMT), when ballots are to be counted on site. The electoral commission has said it will issue results as they come in, after being criticised for taking three days in the Oct. 31 first round that raised tensions.
    U.N. peacekeepers -- nearly 10,000 are deployed -- will ship ballots through tropical forests and cocoa fields for tallying.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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