It’s been eight years now that Ivorians have been waiting for this moment: to get registered and be able to vote. Election fever is quickly spreading throughout the country’s identification centers. Scheduled at first for the 30th of November,  these elections will inevitably have to be postponed.

Nonetheless, candidates have started their campaigning. In Yamoussoukro, the capital of Ivory Coast, former president Henri Konan-Bedie is organizing a rally. This is his seventh campaign swing for this election. At 74 years old, he says, this will be his last run. Henri Konan-Bedié, former president and candidate for PDCI (Democratic Party of Ivory Coast): “We shouldn’t bury our heads in the sand. It’s not possible: the conditions for a transparent, fair and honest election won’t be met on November 30th: it’s too early; it will have to be rescheduled... once more...”

Officially, the first round of the presidential election is still scheduled for November 30th. But no one believes in this time frame anymore. Not even Alassane Ouattara, former prime minister under President Felix Houphouet Boigny, the man Ivorians referred to as the “Father of the Nation”. In 2000, his candidacy was rejected based on doubts over his nationality, but now Alassane Ouattara is running his first presidential campaign.

Alassane Ouattara, former prime minister and candidate of RDR (Rally of the Republicans): “Unfortunately, this delay cannot be avoided: November 30th is only in a few weeks now and the identification process has just begun. There are difficulties but we believe, the most important is to have elections which are transparent and fair.” The opposition says it wants a clean vote.

So does the presidential camp. For President Laurent Gbagbo’s Popular Ivorian Front, this election has to be delayed. Pascal Affi N’Guessan, president of the FPI (Ivorian Popular Front): “We believe it is better if the elections are delayed two or three months so that all democratic conditions are met and voters properly registered. This way no one will argue with the fact these elections are transparent. This is better than organizing elections amid the current confusion; this would of course generate more problems.”

Indeed, to avoid violence now, identification procedures have been temporarily suspended. Electoral material has been stored and the training of electoral agents still needs to be completed.

According to the authorities, twelve million Ivorians still have to be identified, nine million of whom are old enough to vote. Once more, voters will have to be patient …