Campaigning in Cote d’Ivoire’s presidential election kicked off on Friday. The five candidates approved by the Constitutional Council have two weeks to win over voters ahead of the 25 October polls. RFI’s correspondent Bineta Diagne is following the campaign trail.
Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011, is facing off against four candidates: former ministers Jean-Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello and Henriette Lagou, and former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo.
Billon, a dissident from Tidjane Thiam’s Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), is launching his campaign with a parade in the Abidjan district of Koumassi. He will then hold a rally in Marcory, another district of the economic capital, led by Mayor Aby Raoul of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).
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Billon’s key challenge is to persuade PDCI supporters to carry on backing him. The party has yet to issue voting instructions following the rejection of its president Thiam’s candidacy.
“The first obstacle comes from within your own party,” one of his aides noted, while remaining optimistic and citing discreet negotiations in his favour.
Rallying support
Ahoua Don Mello, a former member of Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), is now running as an independent and has not received the party’s official support.
His campaign focuses on promoting national economic sovereignty – ideas he says he will present “in major cities and small villages”. He will hold a meeting in Cocody before heading to Bouaké, in the centre of the country.
Former First Lady Simone Ehivet will be in Bouaflé, in central Côte d’Ivoire, where she plans to meet cocoa producers – opportunity to highlight one of the key pledges of her campaign: adding value through the local processing of agricultural products.
Henriette Lagou, who was a candidate in 2015, will also campaign in the centre. She is due to hold a rally on 13 October in Daoukro, the PDCI stronghold. Her slogan: peace and social cohesion.
Incumbent Alassane Ouattara is to hold a rally on 11 October in the city of Daloa in the central-western region.
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‘March for peace and freedom’
Voter mobilisation is a challenge for all candidates, including for the ruling Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP).
“We cannot afford to give Alassane Ouattara just 50 percent. If we give him 50 percent, it means we have failed,” said RHDP executive secretary Ibrahim Cissé Bacongo. “We have to secure the highest possible score. That starts at 75 percent,” he added.
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The campaign is being held in a particularly tense context. Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo both had their candidacies rejected by the Constitutional Council in early September and their parties have since called for demonstrations.
The Common Front – an alliance bringing together Thiam and Gbagbo’s parties – plans to hold a march in central Cocody on Saturday.
Initially aimed at demanding “dialogue for inclusive, transparent and democratic elections”, organisers say it’s now a “march for peace and freedoms”.
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At least 30 PDCI and PPA-CI activists have been charged and placed in pre-trial detention, mainly for “public order offences”.
There is uncertainty over whether the march will go ahead. The authorities banned a similar gathering last Saturday, citing “risks of public disorder”.
