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CTV News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Thousands in the Ivory Coast protest the exclusion of opposition leaders from election
Demonstrators wave the national flag and hold a banner of PPA-CI party leader Laurent Gbagbo during a protest in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Diomande Ble Blonde) ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Thousands of Ivorians took to the streets in Abidjan, the capital of the West African nation, to protest against the exclusion of opposition leaders from the upcoming presidential election. Ivory Coast, a nation of 32 million that is the biggest economy of francophone West Africa, is due to hold a presidential vote in October. Earlier this year four main opposition figures, including former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam, were barred from running by the electoral commission. Protesters gathered Saturday morning in Yopougon, a densely populated suburb of the capital Abidjan, holding banners with messages such as: 'Enough is enough!' and 'No true democracy without true justice.' Gbagbo and Thiam joined forces earlier this year to challenge incumbent President Alassane Ouattara. The 83-year-old leader announced last month that he would seek a fourth presidential term. His candidacy is contested after he changed the constitution in 2016 to remove presidential term limits. 'We are millions saying YES to Gbagbo and Thiam' said another banner in the crowd. 'We don't want a fourth term, and we want the electoral roll revised, that's what we are asking for,' said Sagesse Divine, an activist who participated in Saturday's march. 'We want all candidates' names included, and we want to go to the elections in peace, that's all we want.' There was no immediate comments from Ivorian authorities. Thiam, president of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, won the party's primary in an uncontested vote in April. Seen as Ouattara's main rival, he has been barred from running on the grounds that he was still a French citizen at the time he declared his candidacy, even though he later renounced his French nationality. Ivorian law bans dual nationals from running for president. Elections in Ivory Coast have usually been fraught with tension and violence. When Ouattara announced his bid for a third term, several people were killed in election violence. Ouattara is the latest among a growing number of leaders in West Africa who remain in power by changing constitutional term limits. Ouattara justified his decision to run again by saying that the Ivory Coast is facing unprecedented security, economic and monetary challenges that require experience to manage them effectively. Over the past decade, groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been spreading from the Sahel region into wealthier West African coastal states, such as Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin. Toussaint Ngotta, The Associated Press
04-08-2025
- Politics
Ivory Coast opposition denounces 'arbitrary arrest' of 6 party members
DAKAR, Senegal -- One of the main opposition parties in Ivory Coast has denounced what it says are 'arbitrary arrests' of six party members, calling the arrests part of a broader crackdown following the disqualification of key rivals to President Alassane Ouattara and his bid for a fourth term. Sébastien Dano Djédjé, the executive president of the African Peoples' Party–Côte d'Ivoire, or PPA-CI, the party of former President Laurent Gbagbo, said during a news conference Sunday that the party members were 'abducted and taken to unknown locations' overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Among them are party members from Youpougon, a suburb of the capital Abdijan, where armed attackers torched a bus and assaulted police days before, he said. Interior Minister Vagondo Diomandé released a video to a televion news broadcast Sunday showing a man identifying himself as a PPA-CI member confessing involvement in the attack and saying he acted on the party's behalf with 15 others. The confession was obtained legally, Diomandé said, rebuffing PPA-CI claims that party members were illegally arrested. 'In our country, no arrests are made arbitrarily,' he said. 'The ministry ensures due legal proceedings for all offenses, ending the era of summary and arbitrary detentions that once marred our nation.' The PPA-CI condemned the bus attack and denied involvement. Ivory Coast is set to hold a presidential election Oct. 12. Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is likely to stay in office with little or no challenge from a weakened opposition. Dissent has grown in the West African nation, fueled by the exclusion of main opposition candidates from the voter roll, including the PPA-CI's Laurent Gbabgo and the president's most prominent rival, Tidjane Thiam. Ivory Coast elections have previously been fraught with tension and violence. When Ouattara announced his bid for a third term in 2020, several people were killed in the ensuing violence.
Winnipeg Free Press
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ivory Coast opposition denounces ‘arbitrary arrest' of 6 party members
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — One of the main opposition parties in Ivory Coast has denounced what it says are 'arbitrary arrests' of six party members, calling the arrests part of a broader crackdown following the disqualification of key rivals to President Alassane Ouattara and his bid for a fourth term. Sébastien Dano Djédjé, the executive president of the African Peoples' Party–Côte d'Ivoire, or PPA-CI, the party of former President Laurent Gbagbo, said during a news conference Sunday that the party members were 'abducted and taken to unknown locations' overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Among them are party members from Youpougon, a suburb of the capital Abdijan, where armed attackers torched a bus and assaulted police days before, he said. Interior Minister Vagondo Diomandé released a video to a televion news broadcast Sunday showing a man identifying himself as a PPA-CI member confessing involvement in the attack and saying he acted on the party's behalf with 15 others. The confession was obtained legally, Diomandé said, rebuffing PPA-CI claims that party members were illegally arrested. 'In our country, no arrests are made arbitrarily,' he said. 'The ministry ensures due legal proceedings for all offenses, ending the era of summary and arbitrary detentions that once marred our nation.' The PPA-CI condemned the bus attack and denied involvement. Ivory Coast is set to hold a presidential election Oct. 12. Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is likely to stay in office with little or no challenge from a weakened opposition. Dissent has grown in the West African nation, fueled by the exclusion of main opposition candidates from the voter roll, including the PPA-CI's Laurent Gbabgo and the president's most prominent rival, Tidjane Thiam. Ivory Coast elections have previously been fraught with tension and violence. When Ouattara announced his bid for a third term in 2020, several people were killed in the ensuing violence.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
I. Coast president Ouattara tapped to run for fourth term
Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara's party on Saturday tapped him to run for president again, two days after the country's two main opposition parties joined forces to fight his possible candidacy. Ouattara himself has not yet confirmed whether or not he will run for a fourth term as president of the west African country. But delegates accepted his candidacy after Patrick Achi, head of the congress of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), proposed him in the president's absence. His nomination comes after weeks of rising political tensions triggered by the courts' barring of several opposition politicians from the October 25 election. Ouattara's critics, who accuse the US-trained economist of creeping authoritarianism, fiercely oppose his possible candidacy. Ivory Coast's two main opposition parties on Thursday announced a "common front" to demand that their leaders, banned from October presidential polls, be allowed to stand. It brings together the African People's Party -- Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) of former president Laurent Gbagbo and former international banker Tidjane Thiam's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the country's largest opposition force. Gbagbo, whose contesting of the 2010 vote which saw Ouattara elected triggered violence which killed 3,000 people, is among the politicians the courts have struck off the list of candidates for president. - 'Continue the adventure' - Whether Ouattara will run again is the question on everyone's lips in the west African nation. Ouattara, who will turn 84 in January, has maintained the suspense for months. A comment made in January that he was "eager to continue serving" the country has so far been the only clue he is considering a fourth term. Ouattara is on Sunday due to address a major meeting at the Ebimpe stadium, where Ivory Coast's footballers won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2024. His supporters see the head of state, who made a career as an economist for the International Monetary Fund before turning to politics, as a beacon of stability. They loudly cheered his nomination on Saturday, chanting his nickname "Ado" after his initials. "He has to accept and listen to the cries of his children who are calling on him to continue the adventure," said Honore Adom, who came to the congress from the eastern Indenie-Djuablin region. "He has so pleased us that he must finish the works that he has begun," Lassana Kone, who travelled from Gbeke in central Ivory Coast, told AFP. - 'Envy of many' - Before the thousands gathered at the congress in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's economic capital, the RHDP's leadership hailed Ouattara's stewardship of the country. On his watch Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, has seen seven-percent economic growth nearly every year. "Ivory Coast has made major advances on the economic, social and cultural fronts, with sustained growth that has made us the envy of many," said Vice President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone. Equipment minister Amedee Koffi Kouakou said Ouattara had made the country "a haven of peace" in an often restive region. Yet the president's critics have pointed to the striking-off of his potential opponents from running in the upcoming vote as evidence of Ouattara's increasing abuses of power. Besides ex-president Gbagbo, the courts have also prevented his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude and ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro from taking part in the race on legal grounds. The PDCI's Thiam, who has been outside Ivory Coast since the middle of March, is barred for issues of nationality. The authorities have insisted that the decisions were taken by the independent courts, denying any political intervention in the electoral processes. pid/jj-sbk/jj
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ivory Coast opposition weighs next move ahead of presidential vote
AI- Representative Image Ivory Coast's opposition is weighing its options after four of its top figures were excluded from the October 25 presidential race. Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), was removed from the electoral roll in April after a court questioned his Ivorian nationality. Former president Laurent Gbagbo, his former ally Charles Ble Goude and exiled ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro were also ruled out over past convictions. None of the four can run or vote. Can the disqualified candidates be reinstated? Reinstatement hinges on revising the electoral roll before an August 26 deadline which has been ruled out by electoral commission head Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly, who cited time constraints. Gbagbo, Ble Goude and Soro would also need an amnesty law or presidential pardon to wipe their records. "In the current context, nothing indicates we are heading towards such a decision," William Assanvo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told AFP. Do Thiam and Gbagbo have a plan B? The option of a surrogate candidate -- as seen in Senegal when opposition firebrand Ousmane Sonko endorsed Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the presidential ballot after he was barred from running himself -- is off the table for both the PDCI and Gbagbo's PPA-CI. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo "Gbagbo never imagined such a scenario. He is part of the generation that blocks the political horizon of the youth in his party," said Francis Akindes, a political analyst at Bouake university. "If we put forward someone else with a chance of winning, they too will be eliminated," a close associate of Thiam said. The government insists it is not meddling in the electoral process and is merely implementing rulings from an independent judiciary. The idea of rallying behind Jean-Louis Billon, a former trade minister and PDCI dissident who says he wants to represent the party, is not under consideration. Is a boycott on the table? With no alternative plan, talk of a boycott by the side-lined opposition parties is resurfacing. "We will never again miss elections," Gbagbo said in August 2023. Gbagbo on Thursday unveiled a civic movement called "Enough is Enough" aimed at rallying social demands and resisting a potential fourth term bid by President Alassane Ouattara. On Saturday, he told supporters to be "ready for a fight". "At some point, we will have to flood all the streets of Abidjan." Assanvo, from the ISS, said Gbagbo's PPA-CI has mobilisation capacity, but for Thiam's PDCI party, taking to the streets is not part of its "political culture". "What's happening is playing out among a political elite that young people don't feel connected to," said Akindes. A source close to Thiam said the results of an election without the PDCI or the PPA-CI will have "no legitimacy". Can the opposition unite behind one candidate? The PDCI and Ble Goude's Cojep party have joined a broader opposition group known as the Coalition for Peaceful Change (CAP-CI). The coalition has two declared and eligible candidates -- former first lady Simone Gbagbo and ex-prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan. For now, CAP-CI members are calling for political dialogue and electoral reforms and are avoiding committing to a single candidate. Gbagbo's party, at odds with both his ex-wife and Ble Goude, remains outside the alliance. "This coalition is not an electoral alliance, it's a coalition to demand a fair vote," Assanvo said. "Will it change its nature? That seems unlikely."
