Ouattara Supporters, Opposition Clash Ahead Of Ivory Coast Polls

ANGE ABOA

LOCAL offices of Ivory Coast’s ruling party were ransacked and the house of an opponent of President Alassane Ouattara was set on fire, as rival supporters clashed in an eastern city ahead of the presidential election, residents said on Saturday.

The clashes in Bongouanou came after the opposition candidate, former premier Pascal Affi N’Guessan, and Ouattara’s other main challenger, former president Henri Konan Bedie, had on Thursday called on their supporters to boycott the October 31 vote and prevent it from going ahead.

More than a dozen people have been killed since August in protests against Ouattara’s candidacy for a third term, which his opponents say violates the constitution.

“When Affi called for the disruption of the campaign and the election by all means, some young people went to the office of the RHDP (the ruling party) and broke everything there,” Ferdinand Kouamé, a teacher in Bongouanou, told