President Ouattara's Fourth-Term Bid Is a Test for Fragile Ivorian Democracy
In June, he had been officially nominated as the candidate for the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace party.
Ouattara justified this announcement, which both many leading Ivorian politicians and watchers of Ivorian politics have strongly denounced as an unfortunate development and a betrayal of the president's earlier vision for democratic governance, by citing the new constitution passed in 2016.
Since his hardfought, crisis-ladden election in 2011, President Outtara has served three controversial terms. But with the adoption of the new constitution in 2016, his camp interestingly though ultimately controversially and unconvincingly argues that the upcoming election, which he is expected to win, will legally be a second term for the president.
Potentially legal but ultimately illegitimate
Critics have maintained that while the president's candidacy might be legal because of the clean slate effect the new constitution has had on his presidential tenure, his defiant bid to stay president is unwelcome and illegitimate.
The election will take place on October 25, 2025, and is set to determine the future of democracy in Ivory Coast.
President Ouattara announced his re-election bid announcement during a televised speech on Tuesday.
'For several months, I have received numerous calls from fellow citizens regarding my potential candidacy in the presidential election, women and young people from all regions of Cote d'Ivoire,' he offered. 'I announced on June 22 that as president of Ivorians I would after careful reflection make a decision guided solely by the best interest of the nation.'
This comes as the president has launched what critics and opposition leaders have described as a campaign of oppression and authoritarian control tightening his increasingly dictatorial grip on the Ivorian political scene.
Several opposition candidates have in recent months been banned from running for president for a number of unclear reasons. The most notable are former president Luarent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, a celebrated banker and capable technocrat many saw as the favorite to win the presidency.
Ouattara disqualified Thiam, whom even his camp saw as the president's most formidable opponent, over claims that he had not renounced his French citizenship before filing his application to run for the presidency. Under Ivorian electoral law, presidential candidates cannot hold dual citizenship.
Violence is common during elections in the Ivory Coast. The fiercely contested 2011 elections that handed Ouattara his first controversial mandate saw a post-electoral unrest in which at least 3000 died.
Human rights organisations have accused the president of destroying Ivorian democracy and leading to a massive democratic decline in the West African country. Tags: Alassane OuattaraCote d'Ivoire
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