following the death of his Prime minister in early July that it had designated as his successor, the head of State of côte d’ivoire has decided to represent the 31st of October.
Alassane Dramane Ouattara hoped to leave to posterity the image of an economist, a builder who had pacified the Ivory Coast after a long crisis deadly : his candidacy for a third term, challenged by the opposition is likely to tarnish its image.
Then he had clearly suggested for several years that he would not do third term, and that he had publicly passed the baton to his Prime minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, representing 61 years of the “new generation” according to him, Ouattara, 78 years, was finally “reconsidered its position” after the sudden death of the latter, invoking a “force majeure event”.
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For the political scientist ivorian Jean Alabro, “Ouattara book the fight too much. The change in force on the Constitution, on the terms and conditions of the election does not bode well”. To justify his decision to represent himself, the head of the State has advanced an argument often repeated by the party in power, citing “the risk that all our achievements (since 2011), will be compromised”, “the risk that our country is falling in many areas”.
Because it boasts of having straightened the Ivory Coast, battered by a decade of crisis in the years 2000, and which was known under its two mandates a record economic growth, praised by the international community. “During my nine years of management, we have placed Côte d’ivoire on a path of irreversible development, We have pacified the country, brought peace and security on the whole territory of the country”, he stressed in his speech Thursday, touting the economy of côte d’ivoire as “one of the most dynamic in the world”. According to him, “four million people were lifted out of poverty” between 2011 and 2018.
But his detractors criticize a “technocrat international without a soul”, without social desire and have exploited the justice against its opponents, failing to pass the “reconciliation” after the crisis of the years 2000. The opposing party Pascal Affi n’guessan, a candidate in the October presidential, has recently denounced a “growth appauvrissante” of the economy of côte d’ivoire generated by Ouattara, to highlight his lack of social significance.
Come to power by force of arms
In 2011, president Laurent Gbagbo refused to recognize his defeat in the polls, Alassane Ouattara came to power by force of arms, thanks to the support of the French army the former colonial power, and the rebellion of the North. He had inherited a country split in two since 2002, with inter-communal tensions to flower of skin, with the economy undermined by the violence and international sanctions.
Born on 1 January 1942 in Dimbokro (center), Alassane Ouattara, has accomplished the majority of his schooling in neighbouring Burkina Faso. From the north to the predominantly muslim country, it has long been the symbol of the identity crisis that tore the Ivory Coast.
Married to a French, he entered in 1968 at the IMF and became in 1983 the vice-governor of the BCEAO, which he will later governor. In 1990, he was appointed Prime minister by president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, a position he held until the death of the “Old” in 1993.
Fearing its ambitions, the camp of the new president, Henri Konan Bédié’s attempts to prove the ineligibility of Ouattara, accused of being of origin in burkina faso. Thus begins a debate poisoned on l'”ivoirité”, a concept of nationalism that has attended the rise of community tensions.
Allies become opponents
During the presidential election of 2000, the candidacy of Ouattara, is thus rejected for “nationality doubtful.” After a coup failed in 2002, the partition of Côte d’ivoire wins with a south view from the camp of president Laurent Gbagbo and northern rebel pro-Ouattara. Under international pressure, Gbagbo valid in 2005 the candidature of Ouattara in the presidential election postponed until November 2010, and was followed by a crisis which caused more than 3000 deaths. A final offensive allows you to “ADO” access to power, on 11 April 2011. His re-election triumph in 2015 – more than 83% of the votes in the first round – put an end to the incessant debate on its legitimacy.
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To run for his third term in office, Ouattara will not count on his party, the Rally of houphouëtistes for democracy and peace (RHDP). Its ex-allies, the democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) of Henri Konan Bédié, and the Union for democracy and peace in Côte d’ivoire (UDPCI) of the former minister Abdallah Albert Mabri Toikeusse, campaigning now in the opposition, and their two leaders will face Alassane Ouattara in the election on 31 October.
