CAMPAIGN OF LACKLUSTER IN IVORY COAST’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Campaign ahead of Ivory Coast’s Presidential election is gearing up but has been described as been “lackluster” by electoral observers.

The constitutional court has cleared four candidates to run but only two have been out on the streets campaigning: incumbent President Alassane Ouattara and the independent candidate Kouadio Konan Bertin.

Opposition leaders Pascal Affi N’Guessa and Henri Konan Bédié have hereby called for a boycott of the election as they say amendments introduced in 2016, allowing Ouattara to run for a third term are unconstitutional.

The government used the medium to reassure voters that the poll will happen and about 35,000 security forces will be on standby to ensure post-election violence seen in 2010 and 2011 does not repeat.

The contested presidential result back then claimed more than 3,000 lives after the former president, Laurent Gbagbo, declared victory in the second round, as did his main challenger, Alassane Ouattara.

Violence has also flared in the country that is regarded as the world’s top producer of cocoa since Ouattara announced his candidacy for this year’s election which has sparked fears of instability in the country.