20101128
africanews

Campaigns for Ivory Coast's second round presidential run-off end today by midnight, with some 5.7 million voters expected to turn out on Election Day of November 28. The week-long campaigns have been marked by verbal and physical confrontations between militants of both candidates.

Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who finished first in the first round with 38% has been accusing his run-off rival former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara (32%) to have spearheaded the country’s 1999 military coup and the 2002 rebellion. Ouattara denies the accusations calling on Gbagbo to provide the proofs.

About half a dozen of deaths and dozens of injured victims during minor conflicts between opposing militants in Abidjan and in the hinterland have been reported in the local media during the week. The police have also reported the confiscation of trucks loaded with bullets and machetes, but did not give details of whom or where the munitions were destined for.

Last night, both candidates had a face-to-face televised debate for two and half hours, during which both expatiated on their different programmes on economy, healthcare, education, security and foreign affairs. Also, viewers waited to hear the proofs from Gbagbo against Ouattara as the patron of the 2002 rebellion, but the former only quoted citations from the latter’s old speeches, which were countered by the former Prime Minister.

Gbagbo also announced during the debate, a dusk-till-dawn curfew on Election Day to “create a secured atmosphere during the vote and dissuade troublemakers”, but opposition newspapers this morning say their bloc would not accept the curfew, which they consider as “a strategy to allow electoral frauds.”

Ouattara is supported by former President Henri Konan Bédié who finished third in the first round with 25%, but observers are wary his call to vote Ouattara, a northern Muslim, would be heeded by Bédié’s southern and mostly Christian supporters.

Both candidates have planned rallies in Abidjan on Friday to conclude their gruesome, week-long campaigns.

The European Union monitory team released a statement on Thursday calling on the election commission, CEI, to allow the EU observers have access to monitor all stages of the election process on Sunday. The CEI has been criticized by the EU and other independent bodies for barring observers during ballot counting in the first round.

Three out of five Ivorians fear post-electoral crisis, according to a research carried out by AfricaNews.