Ivory Coast election authorities rejected appeals by former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro to be allowed to run in the country’s October election, an official said Friday. Gbagbo and Soro had appealed to the Independent Electoral Commission against a decision to not include them in electoral lists for the ballot. His return to Ivory Coast would be sensitive before the presidential election. Soro, a former rebel leader, has been forced into self-imposed exile in France in the face of a long list of legal problems at home. He was once an ally of Ouattara, helping him to power during the post-election crisis in 2010.

Source: Punch August 21, 2020 23:37 UTC