Credit: Wikipedia /  Monsieur Pascal Affi N’Guessan,   du Front Populaire Ivoirien

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Former Ivory Coast prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan believes he is the man who will be the next President of the west African nation.  The party of Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo (FPI) named his ex-PM N’Guessan as its candidate for the October presidential vote.  Gbagbo, freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, has applied for a passport so that he can return home for the election.  Gbagbo was acquitted of four counts of crimes against humanity over the 2010-2011 bloodshed: murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts.  The upcoming presidential vote is shaping up to be one of the most watched elections in West Africa in many years.  Ivory Coast current President Alassane Ouattara shocked the country last week when he formally accepted the nomination of the ruling party to be its presidential candidate in October’s election despite what many call “illegal” and against the constitution.  Critics say Ouattara is turning Ivory Coast’s constitution on its head with this political  maneuvering.  Ouattara had promised in March not to run again.

 “I am a candidate to win and we are going to win because The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), the ruling party) has failed, is exhausted, and forced to call ADO (Ivorian President Alassane Dramane Ouattara) for help.”

 -Pascal Affi  N’Guessan said recently

N’Guessan will also run against Henri Konan Bedie, who was president from 1993-1999.  This will be N’Guessan’s second time around against Ouattara, having lost  to him after amassing only 9.29% of the votes in the 2015 presidential elections — which were marked by widespread violence and fraud. 

Front Populaire Ivoirien  (FPI)  Remains Divided  N’Guessan Faction and Gbagbo Loyalists 

Credit: icc.int /   Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

The FPI has split between Affi N’Guessan’s “renewal” wing and a loyalist faction called GOR — the acronym for “Gbagbo Or Nothing” — which has vowed to boycott elections so long as their chief is out of the country in Belgium.  N’Guessan, 67, was once a close associate of former president Gbagbo. N’Guessan will certainly have to bridge the gap in the FPI if he can be a serious contender. 

N’Guessan  has called for the return of  Gbagbo –  In an interview with the Africa Report Feb. 25, 2020, N’Guessan said:

“Nothing can be resolved without the involvement of President Gbagbo’s supporters. Each side has to give assurances, to prove its goodwill. Côte d’Ivoire’s lawyers made it clear in The Hague that the issue of President Gbagbo is a political one. Solutions must be found to reassure the authorities, who believe that his return could be a source of difficulties. The aim of our approach is to show that we are open to negotiation and the peaceful resolution of the differences between the government and the opposition.”  – Monsieur   N’Guessan

Meanwhile, it is uncertain as to what the political reaction will be if and when Gbagbo returns to Ivory Coast.