20101127
RFI

The president of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, imposed a curfew on the country, starting Saturday. His opponent, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, has denounced the curfew as unconstitutional. The curfew is being imposed the night before the second round of the presidential election, whose campaign has already been violent.

"Ouattara says that this curfew is illegal and unconstitutional, because it opens the door to all sorts of electoral fraud the night of the election," explained correspondent Marco Chown Oved from Abidjan.

Gbagbo insisted the curfew was to ensure security, despite Ouattara's criticism.

Burkina Faso's President, Blaise Compaore, the mediator in Cote d'Ivoire's political crisis, arrived in Abidjan Saturday, and has been meeting with the two candidates to find a solution.

The curfew will be from 10pm to 6am Saturday and Sunday and from 7pm to 6am every night from Monday through Wednesday. It does not apply to election staff, campaign officials, UN personnel, international observers and journalists, said a statement read on television.

The election campaign ended on Friday with rallies, and on Saturday, correspondent Alexandra Brangeon observed that the streets of Abidjan were calm, despite violence between rival supporters this week.

"It's very calm, exceptionally calm, considering the animosity between the two camps," she said, explaining that the international community has put pressure on the candidates to keep violence in check.

"The international community has put pressure on both candidates to calm their supporters and stay away from violence," she said, adding that the candidates participated in a live, televised debate on Thursday, which also helped ease tensions.

It is very important that the two candidates accept the results... It would be unreasonable to add an electoral crisis to the political difficulties.

"It was the first of its kind, a very important debate, where they were seen talking, laughing together. And that really sent a strong message to Ivoirians that... you have to respect your political opponent, you have to respect the other person."

Cristian Dan Preda, the head of the European Union electoral observer group, says there was more violence during the second round campaign than for the first, and observers received threats.

"We were obliged to move our observers from [the capital] Yamoussoukro to Abidjan, for example, because it's insecure," he told RFI.

"The most important for us is that the [vote] has to be transparent," he added, saying that is not sure the electoral commission will grant observers access to the whole process. "It is not a good sign, because opacity is not an element of democracy."