Ivory Coast leader seeks fourth term after rivals sidelined

Ivory Coast’s 83-year-old president will stand for a fourth term in October, setting the stage for a contentious vote after opponents including former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam were sidelined by court rulings.

President Alassane Ouattara, who sparked anger when he went against the constitution to run for a third term in 2020, said in a national address on Tuesday that he would seek to extend his 14-year tenure.

“The constitution of our country allows me to serve another term, and my health permits it,” Ouattara said in his address, adding that his country was facing “unprecedented security, economic and monetary” challenges that require “experience” to manage.

Ouattara says a 2016 constitutional amendment resets the clock on a tenure that began in 2011, allowing him a fourth term. His announcement was criticised by opposition parties that insist his presidency should have ended after two terms under the previous constitution.

Thiam described Ouattara’s decision to run as “another assault” on Ivorian democracy. “This president and his government have long overstayed their welcome, and a sham election in October, or banning peaceful protests, will do little to disguise this.”

Simon Doho, the Democratic party parliamentary leader, told the Financial Times before Ouattara’s announcement that the 2020 election had not been “open to democratic competition” and said he hoped the president would “make the right decision” not to contest.

Ouattara had been expected to accept his party’s nomination at a congress last month, but he delayed the decision, saying he needed more time.

The president won the 2020 election claiming 94.27 per cent of the vote after opposition parties boycotted the polls.

The announcement came shortly after a government official in the country’s largest city of Abidjan cancelled an opposition march planned for the weekend, citing potential traffic disruptions among other issues.

Ouattara’s main challengers have been blocked from standing. Thiam was removed from the electoral roll in April by an Abidjan court because he was a French citizen when he first registered, all but ending his hopes of leading the opposition Democratic party in the election.

Other prominent politicians removed from the list include former president Laurent Gbagbo and his ally Charles Blé Goudé, a former sports minister. Both were acquitted at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity relating to the violence that followed the 2010 election.

Ouattara has overseen steady economic growth in the west African nation of 31mn people and commissioned large infrastructure projects particularly in Abidjan. “The growth is artificial,” one senior opposition politician told the FT, arguing that most of the growth was confined to Abidjan, with the rest of the country left behind and young people unable to find work.

Ouattara, who had previously indicated he was open to stepping down, seemed to justify his change of heart during his address to the nation. “Duty sometimes transcends a promise that was made in good faith,” he said.