In Cote d’Ivoire, President Laurent Gbagbo’s gamble to hold elections did not work out as planned. You guessed it he was supposed to win easily. After all it’s his (and his party’s) government and it is his country and he’ll run it as he pleases. If you remember he postponed it for at least a decade. When the final results for a second round of voting came in last week, Gbagbo’s main rival, Alassane Ouattara (a northerner, Muslim and former prime minister) had won by a clear majority. Instead Gbagbo’s allies on the national electoral campaign held back results (one pro-Gbagbo commissioner tore up results showing Ouattara winning live on state TV), banned foreign broadcasters (as an Ivorian living in New York City remarked to a friend, ‘These guys think it is still the 20th century when they could block news”) and by Saturday night Gbagbo–backed by the military of course–had himself sworn in and so did Ouattara. Now there’s confusion amongst the populace and tempers are fraying in Abidjan. With Thabo Mbeki called in to mediate expect a coalition government where the loser remains president and the winner as prime minister. I have seen this before.) There are only so many ways to tell Gbagbo–ironically a historian by training–that he must go. Ivorian reggae singer Tiken Ja Fakoly (recorded live in Paris) says it better: “Mr President, quit the power.”
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The media blog that is not about famine, Bono, or Barack Obama. Contributors are: Sean Jacobs (he started AIAC), Daniel Magaziner, Neelika Jayawardane, Boima Tucker, Tom Devriendt, Elliot Ross, Basia Lewandowska Cummings, Sophia Azeb, Dan Moshenberg, Brett Davidson, Orlando Reade, Jonathan Faull, Caitlin Chandler, Gregory Mann, Dylan Valley, Emily Wood, Marissa Moorman, Lily Saint, Mikko Kapanen, Wills Glasspiegel, Melissa Levin, Loren Lynch, Olufemi Terry, Megan Eardley, Hinda Talhaoui, 'kola, Davy Lane, Siddhartha Mitter, Johan Palme, Steffan Horowitz, Justin Scott, Dennis Laumann, Kweli Jaoko, Jumoke Verissimo, Zachary Rosen, Shamira Muhammad, Maria Ximena Plaza, T.O. Molefe, Ts'eliso Monaheng, Maria Hengeveld, Corinna Jentzsch, Nicholas Barber, Serginho Roosblad, Roxsanne Dyssell, Cheta Nwanze, Sarah El-Shaarawi, Jimmy Kainja, Claudio Silva and Jacques Enaudeau. Pre-August 2009 posts are archived here.
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You are missing a great deal of the story here. Ouattara did not actually win by a clear majority, as you have said above. If anything, it was a very close race that was marred by intimidation, violence and irregularities on BOTH sides.
The international media is ignoring several key aspects in their reports and have decided to automatically accept the candidate that suits them best and is most workable for them without question. This is actually going to cause a great deal more conflict in the country and is escalating tensions unnecessarily.
I have recently written a post on the election irregularities (which were numerous and VERY problematic):
http://apeaceofconflict.com/2010/12/06/somethings-rotten-in-the-state-of-cote-divoire/
@apeaceofconflict: Thanks for the correction onthe “clear majority.” It is more like a plurality of the vote. However, I canvassed widely before writing that very quick post and also from my own experience working with a democracy institute in South Africa in the late 1990s/ early 2000s which included some interactions with the main players in Cote d’Ivoire, Gbagbo and his party are pieces of work.
Gbagbo is no angel, that’s for sure! It’s more like the lesser of two evils in this vote, as Ouattara is no picnic either. Frankly, from what most people here in Abidjan have expressed to me, they would like to see entirely new candidates that haven’t been part of their country’s violence for the past two decades… unfortunately, it seems that both are more interested in their own personal power than the good of their country, and that the international community is more interested in someone it can manipulate than with a peaceful mediation. Makes me sad.
gbagbo est trop con
gbabgo a effictivement efface 700.000 voix. c’est pas serieux
@apeaceofconflict: I thought you’d enjoy this piece from 2003 by Siddhartha Mitter, one of the contributors to AIAC: http://bit.ly/g68hyC
Also, here’s Ivorian novelist and journalist Venance Konan:
I am one of the few persons who is yet to believe that the ivorian election results as announced by a pro-ouattara commissioner reflects the choice of the ivorian majority. What i see is a sarkozy manipulation based on his relationship to ouattara and what his country can benêfit from from this neo-colonialism marriage.