Ivorian Opposition Accuses President Ouattara Of Using The Courts To Disqualify His Principal Challengers In The 2025 Presidential Election (Part 1)

Candidacies Of  Laurent GBAGBO (former President of Ivory Coast), Simone EHIVET GBAGBO (former First Lady) , TIDJANE THIAM (National President of PDCI), Guillaume SORO (former President of the National Assembly), Charles BLE GOUDE (former member of gov’t), have all  been  disqualified.

The post– election violence of 2010 – 2011 in Ivory Coast between the Ouattara and Gbagbo camps, took over 3000 lives.  Looks like the present Ivorian authorities learnt nothing from that war.

With just about six months to go to the October 2025 presidential election in Ivory Coast, the Ivorian opposition has come out strong in accusing President Alassane Ouattara of using the courts that they say he controls, to disqualify all his major challengers in the presidential election. Though it is in July, that President Ouattara is expected to convene the Ivorian people to the polls, for the October presidential election, the courts have already come out to declare the disqualification of some presidential aspirants who allegedly have problems with the Law. This is after they individually declared their candidacies.

The following major candidacies among others have already been disqualified by the Ivorian Courts:  The candidacy of former Ivorian President, Laurent GBAGBO, who is the National President of PPA – CI. The candidacy of former First Lady, Simone EHIVET GBAGBO, who, is the National President of MGC Party. The candidacy of TIDJANE THIAM, who, is the National President of the PDCI Party. The candidacy of Guillaume SORO, who, is the former President of the National Assembly.  The candidacy of Charles BLE GOUDE, who, is a former member of government (Gbagbo government).

The Case Of Former President Laurent Gbagbo, Simone Gbagbo, Charles Ble Goude

It would be recalled that in 2010, there was a hotly contested presidential election in Ivory Coast.   The pre-election period was marred by a lot of tension in the country.  The two principal candidates or rivals in the election were the then incumbent, President Laurent Gbagbo, who is from the Southern part of Ivory Coast, and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, who is from the northern part of the country. Ouattara was indisputably backed by France, or better still by then French President, Nicolas SARKOZY and his government, in the election.  France brought the United Nations into the show following the tension in the country, but it was clear that France was leading the United Nations by the nose in Ivory Coast.  French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, very much wanted Alassane Ouattara who has a French wife to take over power from Laurent Gbagbo, who was increasingly becoming a Pan- Africanist.

The pre-election conflict between  the Gbagbo and Ouattara camps, clearly showed the risk of a civil war in Ivory Coast between the people of  the north that were generally supporting Ouattara, and  the people of  the South that were generally supporting Gbagbo. In fact Ivory Coast was divided into camps, and the risk of an explosion was very high.   There were accusations and counter accusations by the Gbagbo and Ouattara camps, that each camp was building a militia, was doing this or that.

 Each Camp Claims Victory In Presidential Election / Bloody Post – Election Violence

Meanwhile both the Gbagbo camp as well as the Ouattara camp that was backed by France, claimed victory in the 2010 presidential election in Ivory Coast. With the situation on the ground very much set for an explosion, a bloody post – election violence sparked off in some parts the country, especially in the nation’s capital, Abidjan. The post- election violence which dragged on from 2010 into 2011 was to an extent a form of civil war between the two camps. Official statistics put the number of persons who died in the post – election violence of 2010 – 2011 in Ivory Coast, at 3,248 (Three thousand, two hundred and forty eight deaths).  Terrible!

Gbagbo Forcibly Removed From Power / Taken To The Hague

Meanwhile along  the line in 2011,  the military group of  the Ouatara camp, backed by the French military, succeeded to overcome the Ivorian  soldiers who were guarding the Presidency, stormed into the Presidency and pulled out the very courageous President Laurent Gbagbo, and his equally very  courageous wife, Simone Gbagbo, that had both defied previous warnings to surrender or flee. Suffice to say that at the end President Laurent Gbagbo was forcibly removed from power with the complicity and military backing of France. Following the forceful removal of Gbagbo from power, Alassane Ouattara then took over as the new President of Ivory Coast.

Through the influence of the French Government, the overthrown President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, and his youthful right- hand – man during the period of crisis,   Charles Ble Goude, who was also a member of Gbagbo’s government, were both whisked off to The Hague, for pre-trial detention, They were to face trial at the International Court of Justice, ICC,  for war crimes and crimes against  humanity, that they were accused to have allegedly committed during the post – election violence or war. The former First Lady, Simone Gbagbo, was on her part incarcerated in Ivory Coast.

Gbagbo And Goude Face Trial In Absentia

But despite the fact that Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Ble Goude  were taken to the International Court of Justice to face the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, that  were  they were alleged to have committed, The  new Ivorian authorities still again went on to file same charges against the two men in the court in Ivory Coast. Mrs Simone Gbagbo was also indicted for the same charges.  President Ouattara knew so well that the charges leveled against former President, Laurent Gbagbo, his then wife, Simone Gbagbo, and Charles Ble Goude, were fake. So he apparently feared that the ICC could end up throwing out the case, and so decided that Gbagbo  and Ble Goude should also be ‘tried’ and condemned in Ivory Coast.

And so the Ivorian court ‘put on trial’ Laurent Gbagbo and Ble Goude in absentia, found them ‘guilty’, and slammed heavy sanctions or imprisonment terms on them. Simone Gbagbo who was in Ivory Coast, was also slammed a long sentence  by the court., though after spending some years in prison,  President Ouattara released her by  granting  a so called clemency.   It is of course no secret that in many African countries, the courts or the judiciaries are in the pockets of the Presidents (Heads of States). Cases with political undertones in particular, are handled by judges in a way that pleases the President.

ICC Discharges, And Acquits, Laurent Gbagbo And Ble Goude

Meanwhile the former Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, and Charles Ble Goude, spent 10 years, that is 2011 – 2021, a t The Hague, for no crime committed.  But the good thing however, was that at the end of the day, the much dreaded International Court of Justice, ruled that Laurent Gbagbo and Ble Goude were not guilty of the charges that were leveled against them. The ICC after carrying out credible investigations, examination of all related documents, interrogations, examinations of disclosures made, and all what not, came to the honest conclusion that Laurent Gbagbo and Ble Goude were in reality innocent, and thus discharged and acquitted them. That was a big and international disgrace for President Ouattara, as well as Ivory Coast’s judiciary. The judiciary or the courts had certainly under the influence of the President, falsely declared that Laurent Gbagbo, Simone Gbagbo, and Charles Ble Goude were guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Gbagbo Won The 2010 Presidential Election

Meanwhile, it is worthy of note that some French personalities who were close collaborators of President Nicolas Sarkozy, during the period of the 2010 presidential election in Ivory Coast and the post – electoral violence that followed from 2010 – 2011, have in recent years openly confessed that Laurent Gbagbo won the 2010 presidential election. They say President Sarkozy was informed of Gbagbo’s victory by credible French sources, including French security sources. But they say that the then French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who openly backed Alassane Ouattara, insisted that Gbagbo must leave power, and Ouattara installed.