Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:CAMPAIGNING for the Presidential election in Ivory Coast scheduled for October 25 concluded with 83-year-old President Alassane Ouattara pushing for a fourth term, igniting anger among youths struggling with unemployment and inequality.
In the capital city, Abidjan, a 33-yearold slam poet Placide Konan, turned his poem into protest by stating, “People can no longer make ends meet. You have to be very lucky, or a bit of a magician, to be able to live comfortably.”
Konan described the cocoa hub as a place with a higher poverty rate of 37.5 per cent. More than three-quarters of Ivorians are under 35 and many said that the political turmoil is dismantling the prosperity it promised, according to a report in Firstpost.
Ouattara has been in power since 2011, who faced a weak opposition with key challengers including, former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam who was disqualified on legal grounds. The court rejected the nationality of Thiam. The key contenders of Ouattara remain four candidates including former commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon and former first lady Simone Gbagbo.
According to analysts, Ouattara’s victory remains certain. Amid fear of violence about 8.7 million voters are registered to cast their votes. The government has restricted public gathering and deployed more than 40,000 security personnel to reduce the risk of violence amid widespread protests in which three have been killed and some sentenced to prison.
The citizens criticise the government for exploiting the legal provisions and blame it for unfairness. Ouattara tried to defend his actions stating ‘security and safety.’ He came to power after a political turmoil in 2010 and 2011. Besides the main problem of unemployment of young people, Ivory Coast is under pressure to stop a push by armed groups into coastal West Africa.
