Protests Turn Deadly in Ivory Coast Ahead of Presidential Elections

At least one person was killed and several others injured in the Ivory Coast during political demonstrations sparked by the validation of incumbent President Alassane Ouattara's candidacy for an October election.

The vote in the world's top cocoa grower is meant to draw a line under years of political turmoil and solidify a rapid economic revival that is turning the heads of foreign investors. As the October election nears, observers are watching to see whether a stable polling process will be a final sign for businesses and investors to enter the market.

Demonstrations broke out in the commercial capital Abidjan and in the country's western cocoa growing regions on Thursday, a day after the constitutional court cleared 10 candidates, including Ouattara, to take part in the election.

More than 33 people threw their hats in the ring to run for Ivory Coast's highest office in the October 25 elections, with the final candidate pool consisting of eight men and two women. There was debate regarding Ouattara's eligibility, but the Constitutional Council ultimately ruled in the current president's favor and added him to the candidate list.

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The protests were called by a new opposition bloc, the National Coalition for Change (CNC). Some members of CNC come from a faction of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo's party and do not accept Ouattara's right to run over nationality issues. Opponents claim he is not Ivorian but a Burkinabe. The death and injuries were reported by a Red Cross worker in the country.

"There was fighting between different groups among the population yesterday, and there was one death in a village near Bayota on the road from Gagnoa to Sinfra," the Red Cross official, who is based in the western town of Gagnoa, told Reuters.

There were also an unknown number of people wounded during the violence, he said. The worker asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press. There was no immediate police comment on the disturbances.

Protesters also burned a bus in Abidjan's Yopougon neighborhood before being dispersed by police firing tear gas.

"The demonstrators are responding to our call. This is to protest against the validation of Mr. Ouattara's candidacy," said Boubakar Kone, spokesman for a hardline faction of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party that has joined the CNC.

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Ivory Coast is emerging from a decades-long political crisis that ended with a 2011 civil war sparked by Gbagbo's refusal to accept Ouattara's victory in a 2010 runoff election. Ouattara's exclusion from previous elections due to what his rivals claimed were doubts over his nationality was among the central causes of the years of turmoil.

While Gbagbo refused to accept Outtara's victory, at the time it was recognized by most of the international community, including the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU). Violence escalated as the candidates remained in a standoff.

After Gbagbo missed the AU-set deadline to step down in March 2011, Outtara's forces moved in and the UN carried out an airstrike campaign. The former president was eventually arrested in April. Around 3,000 people were killed in total during the post-election violence.

Gbagbo, now in The Hague awaiting trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, hails from Ivory Coast's west. Kone said the demonstrations would continue on Friday.