Sidi:

Thanks for sending this article.  It spells a sad turn of events in this
country. The often emulated practice of banning one's political
opponents is so common in our sub-region.  Not to do it would be
abnormal.  A sad day for African and Ivorian Politics in particular.

Regards
Abdoulaye

Sidi Sanneh wrote:
>
> ICoast-vote,sched-lead
>    Ivory Coast calm calm but tense after Ouattara's disqualification
>    by Caspar Leighton
>    ATTENTION - REPETITON, adding sched mention, ADDS details, background,
> quotes ///
>
>    ABIDJAN, Oct 7 (AFP) - The feared unrest following Friday night's
> disqualification of oppostion presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara
> failed
> to materialise here as the streets remained deserted Saturday morning.
>    The city was under curfew from 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) Friday and as the
> military patrolled overnight in the more militant suburbs, people stayed at
> home.
>    The curfew lifted at 6:00 am (0600 GMT) Saturday morning and there was
> very
> little military presence in any part of the city.
>    Most people were still staying at home with many shops remaining closed.
>    Ouattara, a former prime minister and leader of the Rally of Republicans
> (RDR) called for calm after hearing of his disqualification from the
> presidential poll set for October 22.
>    People appeared to have heeded his call in most of the capital's
> residential quarters, residents said.
>    The military government announced a curfew Wednesday, after an explosion
> killed four people and injured seven in the afternoon, and further imposed
> a
> state of emergency that took effect at 6:00 am (0600 GMT) Friday.
>    The ruling by the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court
> disqualified
> all but five of the 19 presidential candidates, including most of those
> considered serious challengers to military leader Robert Guei.
>    Guei will run against four other candidates, the only other heavyweight
> candidate included in the vote being Laurent Gbagbo, leader of the Ivorian
> Popular Front (FPI).
>    The FPI won the same number of seats as Ouattara's RDR in the last
> election.
>    Ouattara, who was barred from running over doubts over his nationality,
> denounced the court's ruling as "a masquerade."
>    The list of approved candidates had been approved by Guei, who only
> wanted
> adversaries he could easily beat, he said.
>    Ouattara was considered by many observers to be a major electoral threat
> to
> Guei. The court ruling that barred him from running was neither legal nor
> democratic, he told AFP.
>    He cited the fact that all five candidates of the former ruling
> Democratic
> Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) were among those eliminated from the running as
> further evidence of Guei's desire to fix the electoral race in his favour.
>    Among the barred PDCI candidates was Henri Konan Bedie, the man Guei
> ousted
> as president in last year's December 24 coup.
>    Emile Constant Bombet, the official PDCI candidate and Bedie's former
> interior minister, was also ruled ineligible to run.
>    PDCI secretary general Laurent Dona Fologo told AFP he was "disappointed
> and surprised" by the decision to bar his party's candidate.
>    The court said it had rejected Bombet because of legal proceedings
> against
> him. That meant he did not fulfil the constitutional requirements of "sound
> morality and integrity", said the court.
>    Both the RDR and the PDCI were meeting Saturday to consider their next
> move. There is no appeal available against the Supreme Court's decision.
>    crl/jj
>
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