Credit: britannica.com/   Alassane Ouattara President Of  CÔTE D’IVOIRE (Ivory Coast)

By Gary Raynaldo        DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has formally accepted the nomination of the ruling party to be its presidential candidate in October’s election despite it being “illegal” and against the constitution. Critics say Ouattara is turning Ivory Coast’s constitution on its head with this political  maneuvering.  Ouattara’s opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again.  However, Ouattara has said his first two mandates do not count under the new constitution adopted in 2016. Critics question the “new constitution” he helped set up that is now paving a way for Ouattara to remain in power.  At the time,  opponents  blasted the new constitution for being hastily drafted and lacking transparency.

“Je suis candidat à l’élection présidentielle du 31 octobre 2020”

“This decision, carefully considered, is a duty that I accept in the best interests of the Nation; in order to continue to put my experience tirelessly at the service of our country” – Alassane Ouattara 

Je suis candidat à l’élection présidentielle du 31 octobre 2020. pic.twitter.com/aYVR2tKEih

— Alassane Ouattara (@AOuattara_PRCI) August 6, 2020

Many see Ouattara opening the door to the west African nation’s political destabilisation.  

“President Ouattara is sowing the seeds of the destabilisation of Ivory Coast,”

-Maurice Kakou Guikaoué, the executive secretary of the opposing Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI)told Radio France Internationale (RFI).

Présidentielles en Côte d’Ivoire : un 3e mandat de Ouattara « serait illégal », selon Henri Konan Bédié

Dans une interview exclusive accordée à France 24, l’ancien chef d’État trouve que le 3e mandat du Président Ouattara est anti-constitutionnel. “Ce serait illégal”, a clairement dit HKB.

Henri Konan Bédié  –  Candidate in Ivory Coast Election 2020 

Ouattara’s early rivals include former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan of the Ivorian Popular Front party, former president Henri Konan Bedie of the Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast, and former foreign minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh.   Ivory Coast’s 86-year-old former president Henri Konan Bédié  declared his opposition party’s candidate for October’s tense presidential election. 

“For us at the PDCI, age is an asset. Age brings together experience as well as competence. “There is no age limit under the constitution. I am gathering all my physical and intellectual strength.”

–Bédié  , 86-years-old,   told reporters after declaring  his opposition party candidate