In Côte d’Ivoire, the opposition is rising to the challenge together. Several political platforms close to Henri Konan Bédié, Laurent Gbagbo, Guillaume Soro or Charles Blé Goudé expressed themselves this Wednesday, August 12. By common agreement, these movements demanded the withdrawal of Alassane Ouattara’s candidacy and profound changes to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as well as to the brand new electoral list that has just been published.
Maurice Kakou Gikahué is clear. As things stand, the PDCI Executive Secretary believes that the October poll cannot take place. The opposition accuses the IEC of having manipulated the list with the help of the Voodoo Communication agency.
Daniel Aka also talks about thousands of foreigners, people who are too young, too old, or duplicates found among voters. The leader of the Ivorian Workers’ Party is therefore calling for a radical change in the IEC. “The opposition is demanding the immediate resignation of the president of the electoral commission because of his obvious failure.
Litigation on the list ended on Tuesday. According to Emile Ebrottie, spokesman for the IEC, that’s what appeals are for. Any foreigners added? “The opposition has to prove it,” he said. Dead people, infants, duplicates? All this could be due “to clerical errors that can easily be rectified through litigation,” Emile Ebrottie says.
The spokesperson also denies any involvement of Voodoo Communication in the establishment of the voters’ list. Another source adds that the Commission has no contract with the company.
As for the candidacy of Alassane Ouattara, “it could lead to a crisis of exceptional seriousness” announced the opposition. “It’s a dangerous game so we really say that the government should pull itself together while social peace is in its hands,” warns Danièle Boni-Claverie, president of the Republican Union for Democracy, who denounces the dispersal of demonstrations while marches of both sides are to be held this Thursday.
The government, for its part, repeats that the candidacy of the president is authorized following the adoption of the 2016 constitution.