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Former prime minister and president of the Ivorian Popular Front Party, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, is a candidate in the 25 October presidential polls. He said that when it was originally adopted, the leaders and drafters of the Constitution were clear that one could not serve more than two terms.
Opposition parties in the Ivory Coast have reacted angrily to President Alassane Ouattara’s announcement that he will stand for a fourth term in office, describing the move as anti-Constitutional.
In a televised address on Tuesday, the 83-year-old announced his candidacy saying both his health and the country’s Constitution permitted him to serve another term.
Former prime minister and president of the Ivorian Popular Front Party, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, is a candidate in the 25 October presidential polls. He said that when it was originally adopted, the leaders and drafters of the Constitution were clear that one could not serve more than two terms.
In 2016, Ouattara reset the presidential term limit by changing the Constitution to allow himself to stand for a third term in the 2020 polls. He said that in 2020, Ouattara cited exceptional circumstances to justify his candidacy, and so he wondered how he could now explain his bid for a fourth term.
The president, who has been in power since 2011, said in his announcement that the country was facing “unprecedented security, economic, and monetary challenges”. He added that he believed the management of this situation required someone with experience like himself. While Ouattara will face several opposition figures in the polls, leaders of the two main opposition parties have been barred from standing.
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Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) leader, Tidjane Thiam, and former President Laurent Gbagbo, who leads the African People’s Party of Ivory Coast (PPACI), are currently campaigning to be reinstated on the electoral list. Ouattara has promised a peaceful poll, but N’Guessan said this is unlikely, as the conditions for this are not in place, including the exclusion of these two men. Analysts say young Ivorians in particular are increasingly demanding change.
