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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] > if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------