Ivory Coast’s president will seek a fourth term after the disqualification of rivals

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said Tuesday that he would seek a fourth term leading the West African nation, which is due to hold an election in October.

Ouattara’s candidacy is contested after he changed the constitution in 2016 to remove the presidential term limit.

The 83-year-old president declared his plan in a televised announcement. He won a third term in 2020 after he initially said that he wasn’t going to run again. However, he changed his position following the death of his handpicked successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

“I am a candidate, because the constitution allows me to seek another term, and my health allows it,” Ouattara said.

His most prominent rival, Tidjane Thiam, has already been barred from running by a court on the grounds that he was still a French citizen at the time he declared his candidacy, even though he later renounced his French nationality. Ivorian law bans dual nationals from running for president.

Thiam condemned Ouattara’s decision, calling it “a violation of our Constitution and a further attack on democracy.”

“This president and his government have long since crossed the line,” Thiam said in a statement. “A mock election in October or a ban on peaceful demonstrations will not be enough to cover up this situation.”

Elections in Ivory Coast have usually been fraught with tension and violence. When Ouattara announced his bid for a third term, several people were killed in the ensuing violence. There have been protests against the court’s decision to exclude Thiam from competing in the election.

Ouattara is the latest among a growing number of leaders in West Africa who remain in power by changing the constitutional term limit.

Coup leaders in the region have used alleged corruption within democratic governments and electoral changes as a pretext to seize power, leading to a split in the regional bloc called the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.

“For those critical of ECOWAS and civilian governments, Ouattara’s decision just reinforces the legitimacy crisis everyone in the region is facing. It makes people like Ouattara look like hypocrites,” Nat Powell, Africa analyst at Oxford Analytica, told The Associated Press.

Ouattara justified his decision to run by saying that the Ivory Coast is facing unprecedented security, economic and monetary challenges that require experience to manage them effectively.

Over the past decade, groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been spreading from the Sahel region into wealthier West African coastal states, such as Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.

Ivory Coast’s economy has also struggled with U.S. tariffs and climate-related disruptions to its vital cocoa sector. The country is the world’s leading exporter of cocoa beans, and produces more than a third of the world’s supply.

Ouattara’s candidacy drew strong criticism from opposition members.

“Alassane Ouattara does not want to leave power — like any self-respecting dictator,” Guillaume Soro, a former prime minister who was blocked from running in the election, said.

Affi N’guessan, a candidate of the opposition Ivorian Popular Front, called Ouattara’s candidacy “illegal” but said he is confident that “a united opposition will defeat him at the polls.”

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Ope Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Mark Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal.