Overview
- Candidates held final rallies Thursday, with President Alassane Ouattara closing in Abidjan and his four challengers campaigning across the country before Saturday’s vote.
- Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam were excluded from the ballot by the Constitutional Council, leaving Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, Jean‑Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello and Henriette Lagou to contest Ouattara.
- Nearly nine million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the first round, as some opposition-leaning areas weigh staying home or await guidance from party leaders.
- Authorities report more than 700 arrests since mid-October, and courts have handed down three-year prison terms to several dozen people for participating in banned demonstrations or public disorder.
- Officials say four people have died in recent unrest, including a gendarme, while Gbagbo denounced the contest as a “civil coup” and said he is not calling supporters into the streets.