Ouattara says that he has not yet “made the decision”, which he leaves in the hands of his party, which already supported his candidacy in September
Jan. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, opened the door this Thursday to the possibility of running for a fourth term at the head of the country, after being controversially re-elected in 2020 amid complaints from the opposition about a violation of the Constitution, which sets the number of mandates of the head of State at two.
“I am in good health and I am willing to continue serving my country,” said the 83-year-old president, during an official event in the city of Abidjan broadcast by the public broadcaster RTI on his account on the social network Facebook, speech in who has stressed that the decision will depend on his party, the Rally of Republicans (RR, according to its French acronym).
“To this day I have not made the decision,” said Ouattara, who recalled that five years ago he showed his willingness to “pass the reins to a new generation”, although he has hinted for the first time that he could run again as candidate to the polls. “My party has half a dozen potential candidates,” he concluded.
The RR formation already expressed in September 2024 its support for the possibility of Ouattara running for a fourth term in the next elections, scheduled for November 2025, although the designation has not been made officially for the moment, after so the president should accept it.
The Ivorian Government spokesman, Amadou Coulibaly, already highlighted on Wednesday that “the president is fit.” “I can guarantee that he is in very good spirits,” he said at a press conference, where he highlighted what he described as the African country’s progress on an economic level.
Ouattara obtained a controversial third term at the head of the country after obtaining more than 94 percent of the votes in the elections held in 2020, a process boycotted by the main opposition candidates in rejection of his decision to run again for the elections, a decision that blamed it on the sudden death of the then prime minister and government candidate, Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
The president’s decision was supported by the Constitutional Court, which argued that the amendments approved shortly before to the Magna Carta reset his mandate counter to zero, which, in fact, would practically allow him to run this year for the fourth time, something which would foreseeably unleash new criticism from the opposition.
In fact, the opposition announced after the 2020 elections the creation of a National Transition Council upon ending the president’s mandate, which plunged the country into a serious political crisis finally channeled through a process of talks that allowed the situation to be stabilized. and bring closer positions between the opponents and the president, who consolidated himself in power.
Previously, the authorities launched a campaign of arrests against the leadership of the National Transition Council, amid fears about a possible escalation of tensions that could lead to a new conflict, as occurred after the 2010 elections, when some 3,000 People died after the then president, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to recognize his defeat against Ouattara himself.
Gbagbo himself returned to the country in 2021 in the midst of this process of rapprochement with the authorities and after the International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted him of the charges of crimes against humanity that were imputed to him in relation to his responsibility in the civil war in the African country after the 2010 elections.
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