Ivory Coast is voting this Saturday, October 31, for the first round of the presidential election. Nearly 7.5 million Ivorian citizens are urged to have their vote put on the ballot. They had until last Sunday to withdraw their voting cards. But less than half of the registered voters turned out to collect it. A weak mobilization that could be explained by the call for civil disobedience and an active boycott initiated by the opposition.
as reported from Abidjan, Sidi Yansane
With more than 900,000 new voters registered on the electoral rolls, popular enthusiasm for this year’s presidential election seemed certain. But the card withdrawal rate of only 41% seems to indicate the opposite.
The Independent Electoral Commission announced on Monday afternoon, 26 afternoon, that only three million registrants have actually regained the precious sesame at the end of the card distribution period.
The CEI had actually observed a slowdown in the supply of the famous maps. A slowdown that she blames to civil disobedience opposition activists who still contest the legitimacy of this election.
For Issiaka Sangaré, general secretary of the FPI for candidate Pascal Affi N’Guessan, this low withdrawal rate shows that the opposition’s slogan is respected. He even believes that the Electoral Commission has inflated his numbers. The opposition coalition met yesterday, and the spokesman also called for the spread of civil disobedience across the country.
Our civil disobedience is peaceful and democratic, our goal is neither to attack anyone nor to destroy any property. We therefore call on our compatriots to mobilize to counter Alassane Ouattara by spreading civil disobedience throughout Côte d’Ivoire. We condemn in advance the deployment of observers to monitor an election that excludes all candidates (…).
Pascal Affi N’Guessan
It remains difficult to estimate the extent to which turnout may be affected. But the CEI recalls that the cards will be waiting for voters in their polling station on D-Day and that the number of 22,000 polling stations will remain unchanged, contrary to what President Alassane Ouattara announced in an interview with the French weekly. Sunday Journal.
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