Polls canceled in Ivory Coast: catch-up session for local elections

With our correspondent in Abidjan , François Hume-Ferkatadji

In San Pedro, the country’s second economic center, RHDP dissident Nakaridja Cissé won with 50% of the votes ahead of the outgoing mayor from the ruling party Félix Miézan Anoblé and especially ahead of the PDCI-PPA-CI coalition candidate Sylvanus Kla Koue. A clear victory, while the September election, ultimately canceled, had been very close. This is the second time that a woman will lead the city of San Pedro, the world’s leading cocoa export port.

In these renewed ballots, all the winners of the first election won again except in Koumbala, where the RHDP candidate won. The presidential party also pockets the small town of Kouibly, as well as the Guémon region. The RHDP therefore runs 26 regions out of 31. Antoine Assale Tiemoko, independent, is elected mayor of Tiassalé. PDCI candidate Joachim Laguikouassi becomes the first magistrate of the city of Oumé.

Although these new elections went well overall, the vote degenerated in Ferkéssédougou. Individuals invaded the local CEI office to destroy electoral materials, making it impossible to announce the results. A relative of candidate Ouattara Kawéli, member of GPS, Guillaume Soro’s party, attributes these criminal acts to young RHDP activists. “  Ferké was like a city under siege, the police had invaded the city. The RDHP deployed its big arms to terrorize the population  ,” also denounces Hamed Kassambara, who believes that despite everything, his candidate emerged victorious from the election.