Ivory Coast opposition says president’s fourth term bid violates the Constitution

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.

“Independent of the Constitution, Ouattara himself has repeatedly said that he is ready to pass the torch to the next generation,” said N’Guessan.

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”.

“Indeed, the terrorist threat is growing in the sub-region and economic uncertainties at the international level constitute a risk for our country,” he said.

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.

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 because of the exclusion of these two men.

“Until the entire opposition mobilises to ensure that the Independent Electoral Commission is more transparent and more balanced, so that the electoral code is revised, the electoral roll is cleaned up, and all these issues are resolved, there is no prospect of peaceful elections,” he said.

In answer to the Ouattara’s statement that the country needs him at this time, N’Guessan said he believes the president is part of the problem.

“He’s divided Ivorians, he imprisons people day in and day out, has destroyed our relations with the sub-region, he’s truly become a problem for Côte d'Ivoire,” he said.

N’Guessan said this must be resolved so that the country can regain its unity and stability, rebuild its relations with the West African sub-region, and then reposition itself on the international stage.

Analysts say young Ivorians in particular are increasingly demanding change.