ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Residents of Ivory Coast’s biggest city Abidjan are stocking up on provisions and sending loved ones to rural villages ahead of a contentious presidential election on Saturday many fear could turn violent.Suzanne Ble, 34, her two young daughters and a son, were among the hundreds of passengers at a bus station in Abidjan on Tuesday, sitting atop their luggage, waiting to get a ticket. “I’m taking my family to Toumodi, (in the centre of the country) because of the political situation. We are afraid that it will degenerate,” Ble said. Many Ivorians had hoped the 2020 election would help turn the page on a cycle of violence around elections, and see President Alassane Ouattara transfer power to a new generation. Instead, ahead of the vote citizens of the relatively prosperous but volatile West African nation of 25 million face a familiar set of choices - and fears. After initially saying he wouldn’t stand for a third term, Ouattara, 78, reversed course when his preferred successor died unexpectedly in July. He argued that a new constitution approved in 2016 reset his two-term limit. His decision, denounced by opponents as unconstitutional, sparked violent protests and clashes between rival supporters that have killed nearly 30 people. Pro-democracy activists say it also marks a fresh setback for the region after Mali’s military coup in August and Guinea President Alpha Conde’s successful third-term bid earlier this month. Ouattara’s two main challengers are veterans of Ivory Coast’s many crises since the 1990s: the 86-year-old former president Henri Konan Bedie and 67-year-old Pascal Affi N’Guessan, a prime minister under Ouattara’s predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo.