Military

DATE=10/22/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IVORY COAST / ELECTIONS ANALYSIS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-268285

BYLINE=NANCY PALUS

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In Ivory Coast, while there has been widespread doubt and criticism surrounding Sunday's presidential elections, many Ivorians see the vote as a crucial step in the country's development as a multi-party democracy. Nancy Palus reports from Abidjan.

TEXT: For many, this presidential election marks a pivotal moment for multi-party politics in Ivory Coast and its long-time champion, opposition leader Laurent Gbagbo. He is the only major candidate allowed to run in the elections against military ruler Robert Guei.

Mr. Gbagbo, historically Ivory Coast's symbol of the opposition, was the only challenger to independence leader Felix Houphouet Boigny in 1990 the first time any party other than the ruling Democratic Party had been represented on the presidential ballot. In Sunday's elections, the veteran socialist leader was seen as the only serious challenger to General Guei.

This 25-year-old university student says Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front party is the only true opposition force and the only party that can bring about needed change in Ivory Coast.

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He says -the Ivorian Popular Front is the origin of multi-party politics in Ivory Coast. He says the Ivorian Popular Front is the only party fighting for the people's liberty, and the only party able to deliver the country from its current crisis.

The student condemns the international organizations that decided not to send election observers.

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He says - international opinion is that Ivory Coast's elections today are not legitimate, so they did not send observers to lend credibility to this process. But we believe our elections will be transparent and fair because Ivorians know what they are doing. He adds - even if we are not supported by the outside, within the country, we know what is happening.

/// OPT /// A number of groups, including the Organization of African Unity and the U-S-based National Democratic Institute, decided against monitoring the elections. They said the transition government's decision to exclude several key candidates discredited the process. The European Union sent a reduced mission of 30 observers.

Mr. Gbagbo in recent days has warned the military government against fraud, saying his party would have representatives at the more than 16-thousand polling stations throughout the country. /// END OPT ///

Opposition parties, angry over the exclusion of several major candidates, called for a boycott of the presidential election, which is part of Ivory Coast's transition to civilian rule after General Guei seized power in the country's first coup last December.

This voter, from the Man region of Ivory Coast, says he supports people's right to boycott. But he thinks this is not the best approach in light of this crucial moment in the nation's drive toward multi-party democracy.

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He says - this is the very first time that there are five candidates for the presidential election in Ivory Coast. He says - this is at least an advance toward democracy ... no matter what party one belongs to, we must all go and vote.

Whatever their political leaning, most voters polled say that what is important is a return to civilian rule in Ivory Coast.

The military government oversaw a referendum in July, in which citizens overwhelmingly approved a new constitution. Voters are eager to move forward with this next step in the transition process, and return to a legal form of government. (SIGNED)

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