Opposition in Ivory Coast protests president's fourth term

Opposition in Ivory Coast protests president's fourth term

Thousands demonstrated in Abidjan on Saturday against President Alassane Ouattara's plans to run for re-election. "We will demonstrate day after day... He will not seek a fourth term," declared former President Laurent Gbagbo. Ouattara, 83, argues that the 2016 constitution allows him to run again. Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, who were barred from running, strongly rejected this claim. Opposition in Ivory Coast protests president's fourth term The opposition calls this fourth term unconstitutional. The two largest opposition parties had called for a peaceful protest to protest the exclusion of their candidates from the presidential election in October. They are demanding their candidates be reinstated on the electoral roll. President Ouattara, in office since 2011, declared his candidacy for a fourth term at the end of July 2025 despite criticism, arguing that the constitution allowed him to do so following a 2016 constitutional amendment. The opposition rejects this, calling the fourth term an abuse of power. The current constitution actually sets a limit of two terms, but the Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that the term count would restart after the constitutional amendment. This allowed Ouattara to begin a third term in 2020, a decision that was also criticized by the opposition. The protests were largely peaceful, although the political situation is tense, as the main opposition candidates, including former presidents and prominent political figures, have been excluded from the election. This is leading to tensions and fears of a renewed political crisis in the country. The opposition sees the protests as a warning to those in power and a demand for political change and more democracy. In opposition are: - the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI); - the Party of African Peoples – Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI);  - other opposition groups mentioned include the Congress of Youth and the People (COJEP), which supports former politician Charles Blé Goudé, who was also barred from the election. In summary, the opposition in Côte d'Ivoire is vehemently protesting President Ouattara's fourth term, which they consider unconstitutional, and the exclusion of opposition candidates from the upcoming presidential election in October 2025. @https://www.stern.de/news/elfenbeinkueste--tausende-demonstrieren-gegen-angestrebte-vierte-amtszeit-des-praesidenten-35961620.html @https://www.bundle.app/de/nachrichten/westafrika-tausende-demonstrieren-in-der-elfenbeinkuste-gegen-den-prasidenten-D340AF72-95CA-4E42-8B6E-BB9CE3936D27 @https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2025-08/elfenbeinkueste-proteste-praesident-alassane-ouattara-vierte-amtszeit @https://taz.de/!6103102 @https://www.zeit.de/thema/elfenbeinkueste @https://www.stern.de/news/praesident-der-elfenbeinkueste-strebt-trotz-kritik-vierte-amtszeit-an-35933568.html @https://taz.de/Vor-Wahlen-in-Elfenbeinkueste/!6103102/ @https://www.zeit.de/thema/alassane-ouattara @https://www.dw.com/de/pr%C3%A4sident-ouattaras-machtwille-spaltet-elfenbeink%C3%BCste-erneut/a-73482007 Outtara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-sx-_tk1A @https://table.media/africa/news-en/elfenbeinkueste-proteste-fuer-politischen-wandel-im-vorfeld-der-wahlen