Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital on Saturday to protest President Alassane Ouattara’s plan to seek a third term in the October 31 presidential election.
By early afternoon, about 20,000 people had packed a stadium with 35,000 capacities in Abidjan, singing and dancing. Some held banners saying “People say no to an illegal third term.”
Ouattara announced in August that he will seek another term after the sudden death of his hand-picked successor.
The Constitutional Council has cleared him and three other candidates to run, but the opposition says Ouattara is violating the Constitution by seeking a new term and has called for a civil disobedience campaign.
The 78-year-old president, who has been in power for a decade, says a constitutional amendment in 2016 means his two-year limit has been reset.
Over a dozen people have been killed in violent protests that trigger memories of 2010-11, when 3,000 people died in the civil war after a controversial election that Ouattara won. Ivory Coast is the world’s leading cocoa-producing nation.
“My advice to President Ouattara is that Ivorians sit down to discuss. We want peace. We do not want war,” Eve Botti, a supporter of the FPI opposition party, told Reuters during the demonstration.
Sie Coulibaly, a supporter of former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, whose candidacy was rejected, said he came to the demonstration to say no to Ouattara’s third term. Soro is in exile in France.
>> Ivory CoastPrevents former leader Gbagbo, former Prime Minister Soro from the presidential vote
The opposition has called for a postponement of the election, but has stopped saying they will boycott the vote, while the ruling party has said the election will take place regardless of whether they participate.
(REUTERS)
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