I.Coast opposition urges political dialogue ahead of polls
A large opposition coalition in Ivory Coast on Monday reiterated a call for 'dialogue' with the authorities to allow several excluded candidates in this year's elections to stand.
FILE: Tidjane Thiam (C), the president of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), greets his supporters upon his arrival for a mobilisation meeting for the presidential election of October 2025, in Yopougon, a popular commune in Abidjan on 15 February 2025. Picture: Sia KAMBOU/AFP
ABIDJAN - A large opposition coalition in Ivory Coast on Monday reiterated a call for "dialogue" with the authorities to allow several excluded candidates in this year's elections to stand.
Four prominent opposition figures have been removed from the electoral register, ruling them out from running in the 25 October presidential ballot.
"We are determined to engage in dialgoue and we are fighting for it," one, Charles Ble Goude, told reporters.
"To ensure peaceful elections, we must iron out differences, reform electoral institutions and make transparency a non-negotiable imperative," he added.
Ble Goude's COJEP party is part of the Coalition for a Peaceful Alternation, made up of 24 political parties, which is due to hold its first big meeting on Saturday near Abidjan.
A meeting with the ruling party is also planned soon but the government has so far ruled out convening a political dialogue, which it says already took place three years ago.
The coalition is calling for a revision of the electoral register before October to allow the barred candidates to be registered and for a reform of the independent electoral commission.
Former president Laurent Gbagbo is another of those excluded due to a conviction, while the PDCI leader Tidjane Thiam has been ruled ineligible in a dispute about his nationality.
President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in office since 2011, has yet to be nominated by his party but has indicated his desire to "continue to serve the country."