COTE D’ IVOIRE: LAURENT GBAGBO NOT ELIGIBLE IN COTE D’ IVOIRE

Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo has finally been barred from voting in his country Cote d’ Ivoire. The verdict of his ineligibility fell yesterday Tuesday 25^th August 2020 in the Abidjan court of first instance. Gbagbo was condemn to 20 year imprisonment in absentia for the rubbery of the BCAO (Central Bank of West African States) during the post electoral turmoil in 2010-2011. Without being able to vote, the former president will not be able to put his candidacy for the October presidential election in Cote d’ Ivoire.

Mr. Gbagbo after his acquittal from the international criminal court in The Hague has expressed the desire to go back to his country. He has sent a formal application to obtain an ordinary Ivorian passport in the Ivorian Embassy in Bruxelles  but his  demand has been unsuccessful. His supporters think that a passport is being refused to Mr. Laurent Bgagbo willingly by the regime to prevent him from contesting in the forthcoming election owing to his popularity.

Laurent Gbagbo had not declared his candidacy for the election yet. Though his supporters so wish that he could do so, the decision of the court stopping him from registering into any electoral list wipes out all hopes they have ever had. With the verdict of the first instant court of Abidjan this Tuesday , observers think that president Alassan Ouattara is making all efforts to sideline heavyweight competitors from the presidential contest so as to pave his way to soft victory.