Ivory Coast Ex-PM Withdraws From Presidential Race

Charles Konan Banny

According to the Nation; Former Ivory Coast prime minister, Charles Konan Banny, pulled out of the race for the presidency on Friday alleging irregularities, two days before a poll expected to return President Alassane Ouattara to office.

Ouattara is heavily favoured to win Sunday’s ballot, meant to draw a line under a decade-long crisis which culminated in a brief 2011 civil war that killed over 3,000 people in the wake of the last presidential vote, Reuters reported.
The president wrapped up his campaign on Friday cheered by thousands of supporters during a tour of the economic capital Abidjan ahead of a closing rally in the central Place de la Republic of the Plateau business district.
Banny is the third of 10 candidates to pull out of the race.
“After carrying through to the end  of the fight to push our leaders to spare Ivory Coast from renewed suffering, I have decided to withdraw from this unfair process,” Reuters quoted the ex- PM as saying at a news conference.
Mamadou Koulibaly and Amara Essy, both members of the opposition National Coalition for Change to which Banny also belongs, have also withdrawn claiming the election process was unfairly stacked in Ouattara’s  favour. They are calling for a boycott.
Earlier this week, Banny alleged that there were irregularities on the voter lists that could allow some voters to cast multiple ballots.