Tag: Alassane Ouattara

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, re-elected for a controversial third term, mocked Tuesday an opposition “plan”, assuring that there would be “no transition”, but also inviting him to dialogue.

“All those who have ideas about a transition, they can always dream, there will be no transition,” President Ouattara said at a political council of his party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), in Abidjan.

Re-elected in the presidential election of October 31 with 94.27% of the vote (“as some would say, a Stalinist score”, noted Mr Ouattara who does not hesitate to use humour in his speeches), the head of state ironically said: “Where does this idea of transition come from? Three years before we know that there is an election, we sit in his living room and then we say that there is a transition”.

Not recognising Mr Ouattara’s re-election because they considered a third term unconstitutional, leaders of the opposition, who boycotted the election, proclaimed a “National Transitional Council”.

After several days of tension, marked by the arrest of several opposition leaders, however, a dialogue began with a meeting on November 11 between Mr Ouattara and the leader of the opposition, former President Henri Konan Bédié.

While saying he was “outraged” by the “87 deaths” (the government had counted 85 so far) caused by clashes during the election period, as well as by the fact that nearly 1.5 million Ivorians were unable to vote because of “civil disobedience” by the opposition, Mr Ouattara called for “mutual forgiveness and tolerance.

“We have to talk to each other, we have to stop this,” he said. “We must continue to live together in peace,” he insisted.

On Friday the opposition had demanded “acts of appeasement” of the government as a “prerequisite” to any political dialogue, to try to put an end to the electoral violence.

Source: africanews.com

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara met with a main opposition rival on Wednesday and promised to pursue talks aimed at calming a standoff over the October 31 election, which has ignited clashes killing scores of people.

Ouattara met with opposition candidate and former president Henri Konan Bedie in Abidjan.

The election handed Ouaterra a third term, which some say violates a two-term constitutional limit.

“It was the first meeting… to break the ice and restore trust,” said Ouattara.

“And we agreed to meet again very soon to continue this dialogue, which has got off to a good start and mutual trust is restored.”

Both Ouattara, 78, and Bedie said the meeting was an important first step but did not indicate that they had made any concessions.

Bedie, 86, said: “In the days and weeks ahead, we will call each other and meet so that the country becomes what it was before.”

Ouattara was declared victor of the election with more than 94 per cent of the vote, which was boycotted by the main opposition.

Up to 85 people have been killed in the clashes that ensued after Ouattara decided to run for a third term.

More than 8,000 people have fled the country to seek refuge in neighbouring states, fearing the violence last seen after the 2010 election, which killed more than 3,000 people, could reignite.

Source: africanews.com

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has been reelected to a third term after securing 94.27% of the vote, the electoral commission announced Tuesday.

The president’s victory in the October 31 election had been widely expected after two leading opposition figures called on their supporters to boycott the vote.

The commission said the final voter turnout was 53.90%, but the opposition claimed that only 10% of Ivorians took part.

The elections results must still be validated by the country’s constitutional council.

Clashes surrounding the vote have claimed at least 30 lives in the West African country. There are also fears of a repeat of the election-related unrest that killed more than 3,000 people in 2010-2011 when then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara.

The European Union on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” over post-election tensions in Ivory Coast.

Chief EU diplomat Josep Borrell said: “The violence that resulted in several deaths and injuries must be independently investigated to ensure that justice is done without delay,” in remarks carried by the news agency AFP.

The EU expected “all stakeholders” to promote reconciliation and resume dialogue, Borell said.

Opposition announces rival government

The two opposition candidates who boycotted the vote — former President Henri Konan Bedie and ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan — have said they will not recognize Ouattara’s victory.

They also vowed to create a rival “transitional government” that will work to hold “a fair, transparent and inclusive presidential election.”

Ouattara, who has been in power for nearly a decade, initially announced he would not seek a third term in order to make way for a new generation. But he reversed that decision after his party’s candidate died in July.

The opposition called the 78-year-old’s reelection bid an illegal attempt to stay in power, given that the Ivorian constitution limits presidents to two terms. However, Ouattara maintains the two-term cap doesn’t apply to him because of a constitutional amendment passed in 2016 that allowed him to restart his mandate.

An African Union observer mission said on Monday that the election was “generally satisfactory.”

Meanwhile, a mission from the US watchdog Carter Center said the political and security situation made it difficult to organize a credible vote.

“The electoral process excluded a large number of Ivorian political forces and was boycotted by part of the population in a volatile security environment,” it said in a statement.

Source: dw.com

Ex-Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro has questioned the legitimacy of elections scheduled for next month after he was barred from running for president.

Mr Soro, who is in exile in France, was excluded from the list of candidates approved by the constitutional court because he has a criminal conviction.

He wanted to challenge his former ally President Alassane Ouattara, who is running for a third term after his preferred successor died in July.

Talking to journalists in the French capital, Paris, Mr Soro said that the president had carried out a “civilian coup d’etat”.

He said he wanted to stop Mr Ouattara in his “mad venture by all legal and legitimate means”.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo has also been barred from running.

Protests over Mr Ouattara’s candidacy has led to the deaths of at least 12 people as demonstrators have clashed with police, the Reuters news agency reports.

Source: bbc.com

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has submitted his application to run for a third term.

He submitted his application to the electoral commission on Monday amid protests against his decision.

Mr Quattara shared a video of the moment he submitted the application.

He had ruled out running for re-election but reconsidered it after his preferred successor Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who had been nominated by the ruling party, died unexpectedly of a heart attack last month.

Source: bbc.com

Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara, has said he would seek re-election in October, formally accepting the governing party’s nomination to be its candidate and defying opponents who say the constitution forbids a third term.

Ouattara, who has governed since 2011, said in March he would not run again. But his preferred successor, then-Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died in July, leading the party to ask Ouattara to reconsider.

The election is seen as the greatest test yet of the tenuous stability achieved since a brief civil war in 2010 and 2011 killed about 3,000 people following Ouattara’s first election win.

“I have decided to respond favourably to the call of my fellow citizens,” Ouattara said in a televised speech on Thursday. “Given my previous promise, this decision represents a real sacrifice for me.”

His opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again, but Ouattara has said his first two mandates do not count under the new constitution adopted in 2016.

The opposition party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), called his decision to run “deplorable”.

FPI spokesman Issiaka Sangare added: “Ivory Coast could have given another signal that would have allowed democracy to continue.”

Source: aljazeera.com

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has stunned his critics by announcing that he will not run for a third term, putting pressure on other regional leaders to follow his example, writes the BBC Newsday’s James Copnall from the main city, Abidjan.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: an African politician comes to power, likes his time in office, and changes the constitution to run again.

This story has an unusual ending though – and one that has led to both applause and consternation in West Africa and further afield.

Earlier this month, Alassane Ouattara, 78, formally announced that he would not run for a controversial third term as president of cocoa-rich Ivory Coast, even though a recently modified constitution appeared to allow him that possibility.

There were gasps from the politicians who had gathered to hear him speak in the capital Yamoussoukro – and perhaps even louder sounds from the vicinity of the presidential palace in neighbouring Guinea.

‘Lesson in democracy’

For months opposition politicians in Guinea have been insisting that President Alpha Condé, 82, is intent on using any means he can to extend his stay in power.

There have been huge protests Рand even deaths Рin several places in Guinea over the issue, and Mr Cond̩ is attempting to organise a referendum which would allow him to run again, even though he is in what is currently his second and final term.

According to one person who was in the room in Yamoussoukro, a Guinean minister telephoned an Ivorian counterpart just after Mr Ouattara made his announcement to express his dismay at the impact it might have on Mr Condé’s attempt to remain in office in Guinea.

Others were happier, of course.

The Guinean opposition politician Sidya Touré, who used to work with Mr Ouattara, expressed his approval.

He called the decision a “lesson in democracy”, saying Mr Ouattara would be remembered for it, and added that he hoped “others would be inspired by it for the good of the region”.

There can be no doubt he was thinking of Mr Condé.

It would be interesting to know what former Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré makes of it all.

He now lives in exile in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, Abidjan, in a house not far from Mr Ouattara’s.

He was forced from power in 2014 by popular protests, after he tried to get the constitution changed to stay in office.

Mr Ouattara’s decision was surely motivated by a desire to leave on a high note, applauded around the world as a democrat – rather than condemned as a man who outstayed his welcome, like his guest Mr Compaoré.

‘Wounds have not healed’
Mr Ouattara’s announcement even drew praise from Ivorian opposition leaders.

Pascal Affi N’Guessan, a former prime minister and a key opposition figure, told the BBC he had to applaud the decision, saying it was a positive step for democracy in Ivory Coast.

Other opponents, including the man reported to be the richest in Ivory Coast, Jean-Louis Billon, made similar statements.

That does not stop them criticising the president’s time in power, of course.

Mr Ouattara’s supporters say he brought economic growth, stability and a renewed standing for Ivory Coast on the international stage.

“I think he has been a good president,” said Venance Konan, the veteran journalist who runs the state newspaper, Fraternité Matin.

“He came to power after a very difficult period, after a war. After nine years he has succeeded in rebuilding this country,” he added.

But opposition politicians – and many Ivorians – say that the president has not done enough to bring the nation together, and heal the wounds of the bitter conflict that divided Ivory Coast, and then brought him to power.

‘Hoping for fresh blood’

Around 3,000 people are thought to have died in the war sparked by Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to accept he had lost the 2010 elections to Mr Ouattara, before troops loyal to the current president arrested Mr Gbagbo in April 2011 and handed him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial for crimes against humanity.

Mr Gbagbo was acquitted but the prosecution is considering appealing against the ruling.

The tactics used by Mr Ouattara’s supporters during his time in power have been criticised too.

For example, Mr Billon – who used to be close to Mr Ouattara – said that when he broke with the president and his team, his businesses were audited for months in an attempt to intimidate him.

So, was he a democrat who developed the country, or a man who failed to bring the country together?

Ivorians will have a chance to show which view of Mr Ouattara’s legacy they agree with in the elections in October.

He and his political movement are backing his Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, as their candidate.

Source: bbc.com