Ivory Coast 2020. Ghosts of 2010 are looming on the horizon.

Monday 14/Sept.

 

Ivory Coast 2020. The ghosts of 2010 are looming on the horizon.

Forty candidates, including former national assembly presidents Mamadou Koulibaly and Soro Guillaume, as well as former president Laurent Gbagbo were barred today by the Constitutional Court. Among those eligible to run by the high court are, controversial incumbent president Alassane Ouattara, Kouadio Konan Bertin, Affi N'Guessan and former president Henri Konan Bedié.

Ouattara is therefore seeking a third illegal term, according to the opposition.

The next 45 days could be a long pre-electoral nightmare, as an invaluable fringe of the electorate considers the candidacy of the incumbent president illegal,  determined to stop him by any means.

Guillaume Soro responded within minutes on social media." I vigorously contest the unjust and unfounded decision taken by the Constitutional Council. I consider it an unfair, politically motivated and legally flawed decision, part of the logic of suppression of democracy and the rule of law. The Constitutional Council under Mamadou Koné has thus just endorsed, with no surprise, the blatant abuse of authority and perjury of Mr Alassane Ouattara. Therefore, consecrating the submission of Law and Justice to the RHDP and its President. We cannot accept this Coup d'Etat perpetrated by the Constitutional Council. In these circumstances, I can announce that we will embark in a new stage of our struggle for democracy in our country. It will be hard-fought, but we will undoubtedly prevail ".

Both political heavyweights and former allies, Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedié will meet on October 31, in a remake of the highly contested 2010 election which set off the bloodiest civil war in the country’s history.

Claude Djaquis

ivorycoattribune.com