Côte d'Ivoire: Opposition party president Boni-Claverie withdraws from the presidential race.

 

Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) - At a press conference in Abidjan, Danièle Boni-Claverie, president of the Republican Union for Democracy (URD, opposition), announced Monday the withdrawal of her candidacy for the Ivorian presidential election of October 31, 2020.

"I have decided, with the agreement of my party to withdraw my candidacy for the presidential election," said Ms Daniele Boni-Claverie, arguing that "URD has always affirmed its willingness to participate in the elections but not under any conditions".

 

Adding that she is already aware that her detractors will either speak of a non-event or point out that her party will not be able to meet the requirements of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).  However, assuring that URD has "managed to gain the number of signatures required for the 17 regions".

The citizen sponsorship, a condition of eligibility, was “expensive and laborious to obtain, I must admit it, ". "We are not against the principle of sponsorship, on the contrary, but the modus operandi put in place is too complex", stressed Ms Boni-Claverie.

"We don't want Ivoirians to die for a ballot;" added the president of the URD, whose party "refuses to send Ivoirians to the slaughterhouse without true reconciliation which implies the release of all prisoners of conscience, including five MPs.

Ms Boni-Claverie, who says she is opposed to another term in office for Alassane Ouattara, considering it unconstitutional, maintains that her political party "cannot support the electoral robbery that constitutes the third term of the current president".

Her party, she added, "rejects any idea of leaving" the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), an institution she believes "has no legitimacy" in their eyes, to control the electoral process in Côte d'Ivoire.

"URD would like to express its mistrust of the Constitutional Council dominated by to Mr Alassane Ouattara's cronies, therefore indebted to him," she said. A far as we are concerned at the party, it is inconceivable that the mandate of the president can extend beyond October 31, 2020.

URD calls for a Transition

"From that date, we feel he has neither legitimacy nor legality, so a concerted transition will be needed," suggested Ms Boni-Claverie, calling on the government to open a national dialogue and a "transition".

For her, "the idea of a transition is gaining ground despite the disdainful and categorical refusal of the authorities. It is essential to draw up a new social contract that will allow Ivorians to meet, to set everything on the table and agree on the essentials".

"The concerted transition will allow for an inclusive dialogue leading to a healthy and sustainable democratic system and an electoral process that will ultimately truly reflect the choice of voters," she continued.

URD held its Congress on August 1. which led to her candidacy, thus giving the party a new impetus and charted a new dynamic trajectory that for her "will certainly result in a stronger presence in all regions of Côte d'Ivoire".

 

Meyan Nanguy

ivorycoasttribune.com

Source AP