In Ivory Coast, the first round of the presidential election is scheduled for Saturday, October 31, and the election campaign ends Thursday night. A vote boycotted the opposition, which called for civil disobedience to block Alassane Ouattara’s candidacy for a third term. A context where Ivorian bloggers try to make their voices heard far from biased divisions to call for satisfaction.
“You have to have a non-partisan approach. We must not be a balancing act, but objective ”, this is the key word Blandine Angbako. The prediction fields for this Ivorian blogger are politics and citizenship. For three years, its commitment has been to encourage young people to take an interest in the political life of their country. It was clear that this election and this campaign were waiting for them.
But Blandine Angbako’s enthusiasm was short-lived: “The campaign is different, there was less enthusiasm. From the beginning, we had this impression even before the opposition boycott. As part of my activities, I talked to young girls who confided in me that they did not recognize themselves in the political offer regardless of party. ”
A vision shared by blogger Carelle Goli. For five years, this “feminist”, as she describes herself, has been working on citizenship. A commitment undermined by this 2020 campaign: “I am both disappointed and disillusioned. We wanted to take advantage of the campaign to give young people visibility and their demands. Now it is no longer possible. That’s a lot of disappointment. And then it questions all our work. “
“Everything has a political reading“
And this is actually the whole difficulty of these bloggers work. They are now facing a dilemma, which Blandine Angbako sums up well: “Pushing people to vote is a delicate issue now. During the registration, we made lots of campaigns for the young people to go withdraw their voting cards,so young people can vote. But today, when you call to go and vote, we will tell you that you are close to the party in power. So it’s complicated. Everything has a political reading. For years, we have been doing the work of educating young people about democracy, and when it’s time to take the final action, we’re in a dilemma, and no matter what position you take, it will be categorized. ”
Avoiding biased splitting is in future their only motivation for trying to prevent the situation from degenerating. “I’m worried about this first round. The positions remain clear and radical in both camps. I’m afraid there will be violence and that we will go into chaos. On the network, we have the impression that activists are galvanized, ”says Blandine Angbako.
“Without peace, there can be no fulfillment“
A situation that Fatim Sylla once felt. This Ivorian blogger is evolving in a different sphere than politics. Its field, it is the development of the woman, its authorization. Politics, she says, “it’s not her thing”. And yet, like many bloggers, she could not remain silent on the subject. “I had to stop promoting my book, which I made in the country because of the campaign and the election. I felt that as a blogger it was necessary to carry a message of peace and contentment. All this will be for nothing if we do not live in peace. I’m talking about women’s flowering, but without peace there can be no flowering. ”
So she multiplies the speeches, the messages, the videos on social networks. She uses her influencer status to appeal to calm. “We are not party supporters, but we are supporters of the Ivory Coast, we are peacekeepers. This is what we are trying to share. The internet is in turmoil and I assure you that there have been many bloggers who have decided to talk about peace. ”
And for Carelle Goli, the last hours of the campaign, the last hours before the vote can still change everything. Until the last minute, his goal is to try to secure it those who want to vote and those who do not, that all citizens must be as well informed as possible: “In these few hours we try again and again to inform. We try to decipher the selection code to explain it to prevent possible overflows. For example, we insist that no one has the right to give results or trends to official bodies. It is important to know and be aware that it avoids tampering. ”
For Fatim Sylla, dialogue must also be promoted until the end. “At no time are we taking sides. Civil disobedience or “teenager”, the most important thing is that you are Ivorians and that everything must be done to favor peace and dialogue. Because if we can not have a dialogue, where are we going? “
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