IVORY COAST’S PRESIDENT VOWS NOT TO SEEK THIRD TERM

Yamoussoukro, IVORY COAST

Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara, has said he will not seek a third term in the country’s October election, ending speculation that he would try to extend his tenure in the world’s biggest cocoa producer.

Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power for 10 years, has for years toyed with the idea of running again despite his political rivals saying it was forbidden by the constitution

Ouattara, 78, has for years publicly toyed with the idea of running again even as his political rivals said it was forbidden by the constitution.

His decision to cede power after 10 years could cool tension in the West African country, which has a history of bloody civil war.

“I have decided not to be candidate in the October 31 presidential election and to transfer power to a new generation,” he told lawmakers on Thursday.

“This is big, not just for Côte d’Ivoire but the region, where all of a sudden we are witnessing a resurgence of the ‘third term’ agenda,” said Idayat Hassan, Director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development.

 “This. . . has prevented political stalemate, a citizens’ uprising and an outbreak of violence.” The country’s neighbours and partners would “breathe a sigh of relief” because the president may have headed off unrest that could have pulled down the economies of Burkina Faso, Liberia and Guinea, which depend on Ivory Coast, said W Gyude Moore, senior policy fellow at the Washington-based Center for Global Development and former public works minister for Liberia.

Tension has been rising in recent months between Mr Ouattara and his two main rivals, former presidents Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo. Ouattara defeated the latter in the 2010 election but Mr Gbagbo refused to concede, sparking a civil war in which 3,000 people were killed.

In 2018, Ouattara said a new constitution had reset term limits, meaning he could run again.

Last year he said that while he wanted to step aside in favour of younger leaders, he would run if Gbagbo, who is 75, and Bédié, who is 85, ran.

Gbagbo was acquitted in January of charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his actions during the civil war, an outcome widely seen as opening the door for his return to Ivorian politics. He remains in Europe pending the prosecutor’s appeal.

Ouattara is expected to back Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, a close ally, in the election. Coulibaly previously served as one of his senior advisers but is not a high-profile politician.

The president’s decision comes as Alpha Condé, his counterpart in neighbouring Guinea, is expected to hold a referendum in the coming weeks on constitutional changes that would allow him to seek a third term, after postponing the vote last weekend.

The prospect of Condé running for office again has sent thousands of Guineans out into the streets in recent months. The referendum and legislative elections would take place within the next 10 days, he said at the weekend. - Africa