20101026
africanews

Pre-election fever has intensified in the Ivory Coast as the campaigns for the presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 31 draw to a close this week. Millions of Ivorians are glued to their TV watching televised rallies and candidates' speeches.

Animated gossips are shared at street corners by sympathisers of the 14 presidential aspirants. But who do Ivorians feel is best for the post.

AfricaNews.com went round Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan and its suburbs to get the views of some potential voters.

First, it is still difficult to get a consensus on who clearly tops the polls among the three principal candidates: incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, Former President Henri Konan Bédié and Former Prime Minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara popularly known as ADO.

Every sympathiser is confident of their candidate’s eventual victory, and the prospective programmes of the trio get perfect reviews from their respective supporters. But what does a rival supporter says about the other two?

“I’m an FPI (ruling party) member, and I will be voting for Gbagbo,” Françoise Tapé, a 28-year-old tailor based in Bingerville (suburb) said. “I feel he understands the problem of the masses most, being someone born into a poor home. And he is a candidate whom the West cannot easily manipulate unlike the other two.”

Gbagbo and Ouattara are seen as the main rivals and some say there could be some post-electoral tensions if either eventually wins. And so Bédié would be a more quiet option to choose.

“I’m not saying this because I’m a PDCI (Bédié’s party) member. It is simply the plain truth. Bédié’s election will be more peaceful than either of the other two,” Pascal Angouan, a 37-year-old lawyer from Bonoua (south of Abidjan) said.

“Gbagbo already has the regular army, militias and Patrotic Youths (a vibrant group of university students) to his side. While Ouattara has most of the former rebels who are yet to disarm as his sympathisers because he is a northern Muslim like them. So, how would you convince me that each of them would not give orders for demonstrations if the results are not favourable? But Bédié don’t have such a peripheral supporter’s base.”

But when it comes to competence of management, some have affirmed that Ouattara, a PH D holder in economics from an American university and former FMI and World Bank top official, bests the other two as one fit to revamped the Ivorian economic that is currently in shambles.

“Look, those who hate Ouattara are afraid of hard work and transparency,” Koné Idrissa, a 43-year-old lecturer at a higher institution in Abidjan said. “Those corrupt ministers and government officials know they would not be able to embezzle more money if Ouattara was elected. So I feel he is the man we need. A number of foreign financial institutions have much trust in him and could convince investors to come back, which will yield to jobs.”

But from a neutral point of view many acknowledge Gbagbo has the best chance to be elected because he has succeeded in immobilising the youths for his cause.