Ouattara: at 84, the president of the Ivory coast leaned to contest again

The party of the leader of the Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara on Saturday exploited him again for the president, two days after the two main parties of opposition of the country joined the forces to fight his possible candidacy.

Ouattara himself has not yet confirmed whether or not he runs for a fourth mandate as president of the country of West Africa.

But the delegates accepted his candidacy after Patrick Achi, head of the Congress of the Houphouetattes for Democracy and Peace Rally Rally (Rhdp), proposed it in the absence of the president.

His appointment comes after weeks of growing political tensions triggered by the exclusion of courts of several opposition politicians from the elections of 25 October.

The critics of Ouattara, who accuse the economist trained in the United States of the creeping authority, oppose fiercely to his possible candidacy.

The two main opposition parties of Ivory Coast on Thursday announced a “common front” to ask that their leaders, prohibited by the presidential polls of October, could resist.

He brings together the African People’s Party: the coast of Ivory (PPA-CI) of the ex-president Laurent Gbagbo and the former international banker Tidjane Tham Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the largest opposition force of the country.

Gbagbo, whose contestation of the 2010 vote that saw Euattara elected triggered the violence that killed 3,000 people, is among the politicians that the courts have left the list of candidates for the president.

– “continues the adventure” –
If Ouattara will run again is the question about everyone’s lips in the nation of West Africa.

Ouattara, who will turn 84 in January, has maintained suspense for months. A comment made in January that it was “anxious to continue serving” the country has so far been the only clue that is taking into consideration a fourth term.

Ouattara on Sunday will face an important meeting at the Ebimpe stadium, where the footballers of the Ivory Coast won the Africa Nations Cup in 2024.

His supporters see the Head of State, who has made a career as an economist for the International Monetary Fund before going to politics, as a stability lighthouse.

On Saturday they applauded his nomination, singing his nickname “Ado” after his initials.

“He must accept and listen to the cries of his children who ask him to continue the adventure,” Honore Adom said, who came to Congress from the Oriental Indine-Djuablin region.

“He happy so that he had to finish the works he started,” said Lassana Kone, who traveled from Gbeke to the central coast of the Ivory Coast.

– ‘envy of many’ –
Before the thousands gathered at the Congress of Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, the leadership of the Rhdp went up the management of the town of Ouattara.

On his Ivory Coast watch, the best world cocoa manufacturer, has seen an economic growth of seven percent almost every year.

“The Ivory Coast has made important progress on the economic, social and cultural fronts, with a sustained growth that made us envy of many,” said vice -president Tiemoko Meyt Kone.

The Minister of Equipment Amedee Koffi Kouakou said that Ouattara made the country “a peace paradise” in a often restless region.

Yet the president’s critics indicated the blow of his potential opponents to run in the imminent vote as proof of the growing abuses of power of Ouattara.

In addition to the ex -president Gbagbo, the courts also prevented his former right arm Charles Ble Goude and the former minister of the first Guillaume Soro from taking part in the race for legal reasons.

The Tiam of the Pdci, which has been outside the Ivory Coast since mid -March, is forbidden for nationality issues.

The authorities insisted that the decisions were taken by independent courts, denying any political intervention in the electoral processes.

AFP