Unlike in Iowa, I am not making a forecast — not until I see some polling from today, anyway.
"Since the start of the vote, we have seen systematic blocking," Mr. Ouattara's campaign manager, Marcel Tanon, told journalists, adding that party representatives were prevented from going to some polling stations and chased away from others.
The McCain team drew comfort from some polls showing that Obama's huge poll lead over the last month was beginning to shrink, albeit marginally.
Nouri al-Abar, the head of the election commission, told a news conference that 94% of polling centres nationwide were open but acknowledged that "security conditions" had prevented ballots from reaching some polling centres in some cases, and that ballots had been destroyed in other cases.
Authorities said gunmen prevented voters from entering some polling stations in the eastern oil port town of Ras Lanuf and other centres in the restive south failed to open, but said that Overall, 94 per cent of stations were running normally.
Another police officer in a southern province appears on a video screen warning that clashes with Taliban are preventing election material from reaching some polling centres.
Protesters prevented voters from casting ballots at some polling stations in Bangkok.
Indeed, that is what was supposed to happen; but there is a body of anecdotal evidence to indicate that opposition observers were prevented from checking the results in some polling places.
The national tracking polls continue to be mediocre for Mr. Obama, but on the other hand, some surveys from polling firms that measure the race on a more occasional basis show stronger numbers for him.
Instead, it seems to have narrowed from 2010, with some polls suggesting that Democratic voters are slightly more enthusiastic than Republicans, and other surveys saying the opposite.
