Thousands took to the streets of Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest city on Saturday to protest the exclusion of four leading opposition politicians from the country’s upcoming presidential election.
President Alassane Ouattara, who has led Francophone West Africa’s largest economy for 14 years, last month announced he would run for a fourth term in October’s vote. The 83-year-old altered the constitution in 2016 to scrap presidential term limits.
Among those barred were former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo. Demonstrators in Abidjan carried banners with messages such as: “Enough is enough!” and “No true democracy without true justice.”
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa producer, has enjoyed relative economic and political stability in recent years compared with other Francophone West African countries: Senegal’s election of left-wing populist Bassirou Diomaye Faye upended political orthodoxy in 2024, while Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have been rocked by coups in the last few years.