[ad_1]
The presidential elections four months ago degenerated into violence between supporters of rival president Alassane Ouattaras and archrival Laurent Gbagbo.
There has been some hope in the West African country since Ouattara reached out an inviting hand to the opposition camp, which responded by breaking a decades-long electoral boycott.
Many candidates
More than 1,500 candidates are willing to assume responsibility for the country with approximately seven million inhabitants. Parliament has 255 seats.
Ouattara voted in Abidjan, the economic capital of the country:
– I hope that the unfortunate events of the 2010 and 2020 presidential elections are a thing of the past.
But the wounds are deep, former President Laurent Gbagbo was taken to the ICC International Criminal Court after being ousted from power by Ouattara. The criminal suspicions concerned the violence that led the country into civil war after the 2010 presidential elections.
Gbagbo was acquitted in 2019 and lives in Brussels pending an appeal. His supporters are gearing up for a full-scale reception in mid-March, after pushing the scheduled date back to December last year.
Two passes
Ouattara has given Gbagbo two passes, one of which is diplomatic, so that he can return to the Ivory Coast.
Gbagbo’s son, Michel Gbagbo, is a candidate in Saturday’s elections and says he hopes “everything will go well and in peace.”
[ad_2]
