By Madi Jobarteh
Today, thousands of protestors marched in Yopougon, a suburb of Abidjan, opposing the electoral commission’s decision to bar key opposition figures including former President Laurent Gbagbo and ex-Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam from running. Demonstrators called for fair elections and the revision of the electoral roll, while also condemning Ouattara’s bid for fourth term.
Ouattara became president in 2011 after the disputed 2010 election that triggered a violent post-electoral crisis. Over 3000 people were killed in the violence in which French forces invaded the country to remove incumbent Laurent Bagbo.
In 2012, the Ouattara government launched the National Commission for Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation as part of transitional justice efforts. In 2015 Ouattara won re-election with 83.7% in a largely peaceful vote. In 2016 a new constitution was adopted which introduced a two-term limit as well as some institutional reforms thus ushering in the third republic. As part of the transitional justice process, hundreds of political prisoners were granted amnesty in 2018.
But then all hell broke loose when Ouattara announced in August 2020 that he would run for a third-term. This generated nationwide protests as the opposition and civil society accuse him of constitutional violation. But Ouattara insisted that his first term did not count since the constitutional referendum was done in his second term, which he counted as his first term.
In the run up to the 2020 elections, the government banned key opposition leaders from contesting. In addition to former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, they also banned the former Prime Minister and National Assembly Speaker Guillaume Soro and a former Minister and Youth Leader Charles Blé Goudé. Until today, they all remain removed from the electoral roll.
After tens of people were killed in anti-third term protests, Ouattara went ahead to win the 2020 election with 94% of the vote. Most of the opposition boycotted the election.
Unrelenting and unfortunate, on July 29, 2025, President Ouattara publicly confirmed his candidacy for a fourth term in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for October 25, 2025. He justified his decision by citing the country’s ongoing security, economic, and monetary challenges, and insisted both his health and the constitution permit this run.
All indications are that Ivory Coast will not be stable from now to October. Anything is possible. More protests that could turn violent and deadly, or a civil war and even a military coup is possible. This can only add to the prevailing instability in the subregion.
Interestingly, both ECOWAS and AU stand by watching calmly the situation in the country. Already four West African countries are under military rule. Three of them have left ECOWAS. Togo is an official dictatorship with no term limits while in Guinea Bissau, Embalo has refused to organise elections at the right time hence illegally occupying the post.
Meanwhile, the Gambia remains the only other country in the subregion together with Togo without presidential term limits. Since removing a dictatorship in 2017 with heavy ECOWAS intervention that ushered in Pres Barrow on the promise of ending self perpetuating rule, he is now going ahead to seek a third term in the 2026 election!
While the rest of the few countries remain under civilian rule with two-term limits, poverty, corruption and human rights violations persist. When you scan the entire subregion, only Cape Verde and Benin to some extent appear to give hope or satisfaction.
All these are happening under the watchful eyes of both ECOWAS and AU!
What is wrong with West Africa’s political leaders?
