20101023
africanews

Five people have been reportedly killed in Ivory Coast on Friday after the convoy of President Laurent Gbagbo - on a campaign tour - involved in a crash outside the economic capital Abidjan, L'Intelligent D'Abidjan said. Three journalists aboard the crashed vehicle sustained serious injuries and were immediately rushed to the hospital.

On its way to Abidjan from a rally in Divo – capital of the Sud-Bandama region – Gbagbo’s 50-something car convoy made a sudden stop near the village of Grobiassoumé – 14km from Divo – after a vehicle, in a bid to avoid a crossing hiker, skidded and crashed into a horde of onlookers, killing five instantly.

Accompanying chief of army staff Gen. Philippe Mangou under instructions from Gbagbo evacuated all other wounded victims by a special ambulance.

This is the first time a deadly accident is taking place in the nine-day-old campaigns of Ivory Coast presidential election holding on October 31.

Gbagbo and Alassane Dramane Ouattara

By the end of the first week of the campaigns involving 14 candidates, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Alassana Ouattara stood out in terms of massive mobilisation and advertisement. Both candidates have been able to attract hundreds of thousands of supporters and sympathisers across all their rallies. And their billboards are inundating the entire country.

However, the duo proved they played strongest in their traditional fief, with little defections from one side to the other.

Gbagbo’s supporters are mostly from the Christian south, youths and university students while Ouattara’s stalwarts are mainly Northerners, Muslims and naturalised Ivorians.

Local political analysts say both candidates held a tie in the first week of the campaigns, but suggest the second and last week will be decisive.

Former President Henri Konan Bédié whose PDCI party is in coalition with Ouattara’s RDR, has not been vibrant as expected in the campaigns. However reports say he plans to step up his political activities as from next Monday.

Private jets and helicopters

The three principal candidates Gbagbo, Ouattara and Bédié are opting for air travels as from next week to be able to cover the entire 322, 462 Km² territory before D Day, which is in eight days.

Ouattara rolled out a second private jet on Saturday while Bédié’s first is announced to arrive by the end of the weekend. Gbagbo, being an incumbent president, enjoys the advantage of having access to the state’s aircrafts.

Manual counting

Ivory Coast’s independent electoral commission, CEI, has ruled for the usage of manual counting after a three-day row within its members, which was sparked by the contracting of a planned computerised counting to a firm opposition party members said was headed by a collaborator of President Gbagbo.

However, Gbagbo’s party FPI has rejected the ruling of the CEI and says it will not accept manual counting, judging it to be susceptible to frauds.

Another meeting of the commission has been scheduled for the weekend and observers say both manual and computerised counting may be eventually be adopted.