Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara was officially sworn in on Saturday, 22 August, in Abidjan as his party’s candidate in the 31 October presidential election. It was in a stadium full of tens of thousands of activists, often transported by buses from all parts of the country, that President Alassane Ouattara obtained the full support of RHDP activists. Alassane Ouattara began by observing a minute’s silence in memory of the man he calls “his son”, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the RHDP nominee, who died of a heart attack on July 8. Regarding the legality of his much contested candidacy, Alassane Ouattara affirmed that there was no retroactivity provided for by the Constitution of the Third Republic and therefore nothing prevents him from being a candidate. Still concerning his political opponents, President Ouattara added: “Because we cannot win, we want to burn the country”.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 24, 2020 10:30 UTC