Tense atmosphere in Côte d’Ivoire, where the results of the presidential election this Saturday are now to be announced. The vote was boycotted by the opposition, which is already talking about a “failure” in power, while President Alassane Ouattara, who is seeking a very controversial third term, called for calm.
With our special envoys in Abidjan, Alexandra Brangeon and Laurent Correau
The whole country is suspended when the results are publishedand the strategy of the opposition. During this time, it is the war in the press releases, a real political resistance.
On Saturday night, RHDP CEO Adama Bictogo congratulated “the Ivorians for moving massively”. The ruling party believes the opposition failed in its call for a boycott, adding that the incidents recorded across the country have affected only about 50 out of more than 22,000 polling stations.
For the opposition, the boycott it had called for is, on the contrary, a victory. “In the eastern and western parts of the country, 90% of the polls were closed,” Pascal Affi N’Guessan said Saturday night. For one of the opposition leaders, the Ivorians refused to participate in this masquerade of the election.
The question now is what will be the strategy of the opposition. A statement from the opposition coalition is expected early Sunday afternoon. On her Twitter account, Guillaume Soro has already stated that he no longer recognizes Alassane Ouattara as president of the republic, while Simone Gbagbo has published a press release in which she calls for “the creation of a transitional government”. have the main missions of laying the foundations for real national reconciliation and creating the conditions for a presidential, democratic and peaceful election as soon as possible “.
Deaths in the violence Saturday
In any case, the two camps, authorities and opposition agree to say that there were incidents and deaths, but they disagree on the extent of this violence. In any case, there were areas where barricades were placed, others where polling stations were destroyed. Places where voting was interrupted, such as in Bonoua, about sixty kilometers east of Abidjan, or as in the Blockhauss district of the economic capital.
The exact number of victims is still to be confirmed from an independent source. According to the city’s mayor Germain Ndri in Tiébissou, in the center of the country, four people died and 27 were seriously injured during clashes at a polling station on Saturday morning. The mayor adds that the situation is calm this Sunday morning. The city’s markets and shops are closed.
Abidjan is very calm this morning. The streets are empty. Most businesses closed. After all, the market in the Val-Doyen district has partially reopened. Yesterday Madame Mathilde had closed her shop, but this morning she is preparing her fresh fish again.
[Reportage] The day after the vote in Abidjan
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