Ivory Coast and Tanzania elect presidents
Date:25 Oct 2015
Polls have opened as Ivorians vote in a presidential election many believe will probably see incumbent
World Affairs Briefing with President Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire
Image by CSIS | Center for Strategic & International Studies
A runoff is scheduled for Nov. 29 if no candidate fails to garner at least 50 percent of the vote.
President Ouatara is tipped by experts to win due to the world’s largest cocoa producer’s current economic resurgence and a fragmented opposition.
Ouatara’s main competitor Former prime minister Charles Konan Banny pulled out of the race for the presidency on Friday, becoming the third of 10 candidates to withdraw, alleging irregularities.
Over 21, 000 polling stations will be involved in the election. The total number of registered voters on the electoral register is up about 10% from 2010 which stood at 5,725,722 to 6,300,158. Some 300,000 additional voters were enrolled in the last revision of electoral rolls.
Former parliament speaker Mamadou Koulibaly of the Democracy and Liberty for the Republic (LIDER) withdrew his candidature for the polls saying he “will not participate in these rigged elections”.
The election is the first since the five-month standoff, which reportedly claimed about 3,000 lives after Former President Gbagbo refused to cede power in November, 2010 by electoral commission declaring Ouatara winner.
AEP
Voting in what has been described as the tightest elections since Tanzania gained independence has peacefully and safely come to an end.
Polls closed at 4pm in many polling centres with no major incidents reported even though there were reports of some voters not finding their names in the voter’s register and some polling stations opening late due to voting materials not delivered on time.
There was also a report of armed people burning election material including 45 ballot boxes they claimed contained fake ballot boxes the night before elections.
Police officers in Dar es Salaam however praised voters for remaining calm and following procedures during the elections. Mr. Khamis a resident of Kilakala ward in Dar es Salaam said "we want to vote peacefully, we have decided to remain calm so that we can exercise our constitutioal right of election our leaders.
Head of EU observers mission, Judith Sargentini has said they have received reports from 140 observers who have visited 4,000 polling stations across the country who noted that the exercise was basically peaceful.
The two leading candidates John Magufuli of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Mr Lowassa of the opposition Ukawa both called for peace after casting their ballots.
Electoral body says voting time will be extended in places which experienced delays and it announced earlier on the final results will be announced four days after todays polls.
AEP
