As tensions mount over the inclusion of numerous heavyweight opposition candidates, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has announced he will run for president in a fourth term.
Prior to this, he had not yet indicated whether he would run in the October 25 election. His ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party had already officially nominated him as its candidate.
Ouattara is the clear front-runner in the wake of the country’s most prominent opposition politicians being declared ineligible.
The 83-year-old president, who has been in charge since 2011, announced his strategy on Tuesday via televised announcement.
He claimed that “I have received numerous calls from other people regarding my potential presidential bid for several months.”
He continued, “Women and young people from all regions of Cote d’Ivoire, and countless anonymous voices from our neighbourhoods, towns, and villages have reached out,” while also referring to the country as “by its name.”
I made a statement on June 22 that, in response to those appeals, I would make a decision based solely on the nation’s best interests after careful consideration.
After the constitution was amended to reset the presidential term limit, Ouattara won a third term in 2020. After the death of his hand-picked successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, he had stated he was not going to run again.
Oppositions campaign
Ouattara’s critics accuse him of tightening his hold on power, and they vehemently oppose his resumption.
The opposition has accused the government of using legal means to harm its opponents, but the government insists that the judiciary is independent.
Prior to the presidential election, the two main opposition parties have launched a joint campaign to demand the reinstatement of their barred leaders.
The Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the country’s largest opposition force led by former international banker Tidjane Thiam, and the African People’s Party of Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), led by former president Laurent Gbagbo.
Due to criminal convictions, Gbagbo, his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude, and former prime minister Guillaume Soro have been removed from the electoral register.
Thiam, Ouattara’s most prominent rival, was denied entry to the court on the grounds that he was still a citizen of France when he declared his candidacy, despite having later renounced his country’s citizenship. Dual nationals are prohibited from running for president in Mauritania.
In the Ivory Coast, tension and violence have been a source of tension in some elections. Numerous people were killed in the ensuing violence when Ouattara announced his third-term candidacy. The court’s decision to forbid Thiam from running in the election has caused outrage.
Ouattara is just one of the growing number of West African leaders who have changed the constitutional term cap.
Source: Aljazeera
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