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Free Malaysia Today
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Ivory Coast ex-minister released after apologising for election criticism
Supporters of Alassane Ouattara, President of the Ivory Coast, attend a rally at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium in Abidjan. (EPA Images pic) ABIDJAN : A former minister for Ivory Coast's ruling party who was arrested in June for criticising the exclusion of opposition candidates from upcoming presidential elections was released Monday after apologising, his lawyer said. Joel N'Guessan, who served as human rights minister in 2006-2007 and is a former spokesperson for the current ruling party, was arrested June 18 for 'discrediting the judicial institution and magistrates', according to prosecutors. The courts have banned four opposition figures, including former president Laurent Gbagbo, from the Oct 25 poll. In an interview with just before his arrest, N'Guessan stated that he was 'convinced that the exclusion of certain political actors will lead to a national crisis'. This past Saturday, N'Guessan apologised for his comments, and on Monday his lawyer Ange Rodrigue Dadje said in a statement that he has been granted a 'provisional release' and had returned to his residence, though he omitted whether his client still faces charges. 'I realised that my interview shocked many people in the justice system, particularly judges,' the ex-minister wrote in a statement Saturday. 'I therefore wish to offer my sincere apologies to the judicial system and the judges for my comments in this interview,' he added. Casting 'discredit on institutions' can be punished by three to five years of prison in the Ivory Coast. The West African country has experienced numerous outbreaks of violence during elections. In late 2010 and early 2011, the election of President Alassane Ouattara – an outcome contested by his rival Gbagbo – sparked turmoil which left some 3,000 people dead. The ruling party has regularly denied intervening in the electoral process, saying it leaves decisions to what it claims is an independent judiciary.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ivory Coast youth, a giant majority, await their turn in politics
As Ivory Coast heads for presidential elections this year, the heaviest hitters remain two octogenarians who have dominated its politics for decades -- but three in four citizens in the African dynamo are under 35. At age 83, President Alassane Ouattara, whose party has nominated him to run for a fourth term in the October elections, has been in office for 15 years. His top rival is the man he ousted from power after two bloody civil wars, Laurent Gbagbo, 80, who has declared his candidacy, even though he is barred from running over a conviction stemming from the conflict. That leaves little room for a new, politically engaged generation to seek power in one of the world's fastest-growing economies -- an issue young politicians say they are trying to handle with patience as they await their turn in an ageing political arena. "It's a gerontocracy," said political scientist Geoffroy Kouao. "Our political parties generally have elderly leaders," he told AFP. "In the popular imagination, 'youth' is a synonym for political immaturity. The leaders don't trust them." The only member of government under the age of 50 in Ivory Coast is currently Youth Minister Mamadou Toure, 49. Tidjane Thiam, the leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), has been hailed as a figure of "renewal", at age 62. Yet 75.6 percent of Ivory Coast's 29 million people are under 35, the minimum age to run for president. - Biding their time - The shortage of youth in top leadership roles is partly cultural, said Mylene Amary Kacou, the 32-year-old vice president of Gbagbo's party, the African People's Party -- Ivory Coast (PPA-CI). "In Africa, we say our elders are always right," she said. Like other emerging political figures interviewed by AFP, 40-year-old Valentin Kouassi of the PDCI said he values learning from his more-experienced elders. But "you don't get into politics without having ambitions of your own," he said. The country should be "as democratic as possible", he said -- a doubly pointed comment, given both the lack of young people in power and the fact his party's leader, Thiam, has been banned from running after a court ruling cast doubt on his nationality. Critics have condemned the bans on Thiam, Gbagbo and two other opposition figures as attempts to sideline Ouattara adversaries, accusations the government denies. Young Ivorians who oppose Ouattara's government broadly share the same complaint: a lack of good jobs. The official unemployment rate in the leading cocoa and palm oil producer is 2.3 percent. But 88.4 percent of jobs are in the poorly paid informal sector, according to the African Development Bank. Struggling to find their place in the economy and in politics, many young Ivorians are torn between chasing their dreams and patiently waiting their turn. - 'Climb through the ranks' - "I want to climb through the ranks. But I'm not putting my personal ambitions first," said another rising young politician, Mamadou Kone, 36, a youth ministry adviser and youth leader of the ruling RHDP party. Issouf Olivier Traore, 29, rejects criticism that Ivory Coast's youth are apolitical. Traore, the national youth secretary for opposition movement Ivory Coast Today and Tomorrow (ADCI), ran unsuccessfully in the 2023 local elections. "My generation supported me. They're ready to get involved if one of their own accepts the challenge" of running for office, he said. He called for a country where peaceful transfers of power are the norm, after a series of bloody election-related crises and conflicts from 2002 to 2011. "That's what we young people want to see," he said. As they wait for their own careers to take off, youth leaders are loyally supporting their elders for the October elections. But they have their sights set high -- like PPA-CI vice president Kacou, who said she sees herself as "minister or president -- why not?" "But in 25 or 30 years," she added. bam/pid/jhb/kjm
Bloomberg
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Thiam Party Forms Alliance With Ex-President Before Ivorian Vote
Parties led by former Credit Suisse AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo agreed to form at alliance after both men were excluded from competing in October elections. Thiam's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast and Gbagbo's African People's Party will unite to challenge the candidate of the ruling Rally of the Republicans, which meets this weekend to select its nominee for the race. President Alassane Ouattara, who's led the West African nation since 2011, hasn't ruled out plans to seek another term.
Al Jazeera
04-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Key Ivory Coast opposition figures banned from October presidential vote
Four prominent opposition figures in the Ivory Coast have been excluded from the final electoral list, according to the Electoral Commission, leaving them ineligible to contest pivotal October presidential elections in a nation with not-too-distant memories of civil war and coup attempts. 'My elimination from the electoral list by the Independent Electoral Commission [CEI] is a sad but eloquent example of Ivory Coast's drift towards a total absence of democracy,' Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), said in a statement on Wednesday. Thiam's statement came two days after CEI head Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly announced that no revision of the electoral register would take place before the vote. Thiam, who was widely seen as the main challenger to President Alassane Ouattara, was struck from the voter roll in April after a court ruled that he was not eligible to run for president because of his dual Ivorian-French nationality. Thiam, who was born in Ivory Coast, received French nationality in 1987 but renounced it in March. Other major Ivorian candidates excluded from the vote include former President Laurent Gbagbo and his close ally Charles Ble Goude, who was charged with crimes against humanity related to the civil war. The former prime minister and rebel leader Guillaume Soro is also barred. He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for organising a coup. None of the four will be able to run in the October 25 presidential race or vote. Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is included on the electoral register but has yet to announce if he will seek a fourth term. In 2015 and 2020, Ouattara won with more than 80 percent of the vote. Thiam has appealed to the UN Human Rights Committee, his party said. His lawyer Mathias Chichportich said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency that depriving the opposition leader of 'his political rights' was 'a serious violation of Ivory Coast's international commitments'. Gbagbo's African Peoples' Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) complained that the authorities 'did not choose to listen to the advice, the calls for discussion, for reason', its Secretary-General Jean-Gervais Tcheide told AFP. 'It's a shame they chose to force their way through,' he said, adding: 'We're not going to let them do it.' Other opposition figures who announced their plans to run for the presidency are also featured on the final electoral list. They include former First Lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, who, speaking on behalf of an opposition coalition, said that the conditions were not met for a 'peaceful, calm election'. During the 2020 presidential election, a revision of the electoral list took place in June ahead of the October polling day. The final electoral register for this year's ballot includes the names of 8.7 million voters, in a country with a high immigrant population and where nearly half of the 30 million inhabitants are under the age of 18. Authorities deny any political interference in the electoral process, insisting that they respect decisions made by an independent judiciary.
Washington Post
04-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Ivory Coast opposition leader Thiam excluded from October's presidential ballot list
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Tidjane Thiam, a former CEO of Credit Suisse and the main opposition leader in Ivory Coast, has been excluded from the country's final list of presidential candidates along with three other prominent opposition candidates, the electoral commission said on Wednesday. Ivory Coast is set to hold a highly contested vote in October. Earlier this year, a court in Ivory Coast ruled that Thiam was not eligible to run for president because of his dual Ivorian-French nationality, a decision that Thiam vowed to fight. Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, president of the country's electoral commission, told reporters on Monday: 'If the courts have ordered removal, we will comply.' Thiam, who is the president of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, won the party's primary in an uncontested vote. He was widely seen as the main challenger to President Alassane Ouattara, who won in 2020 after a disputed election left dozens dead and opposition candidates boycotted the election. Born in Ivory Coast, Thiam received French nationality in 1987 but gave it up in March. Other prominent opposition candidates excluded from the vote include former president Laurent Gbagbo, his close ally Charles Ble Goude, who was charged with crimes against humanity related to the civil war, and the former prime minister and rebel leader Guillaume Soro, who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for organizing a coup. There was no immediate comment from Thiam's legal representative or his party.
