October 2025 Presidential Elections In Cameroon And Ivory Coast:

  President Ouattara Of Ivory Coast, Like President Biya of Cameroon, Is still To Publicly Declare Whether He Will Be Candidate Or Not.

 Also, just like with 93 year old President Biya in Cameroon, there is strong opposition in Ivory Coast against the idea that 83 year President Ouattara should run for another mandate

Some years back, President Ouattara, said when somebody is up to 80 years old, he is no longer lucid and physically strong to be the President. Today he is 83, and does not want to leave.

 Some popular Ivorian and Cameroonian artists have made bold to call for change at the October 2025 presidential elections, in their different counties

There are some similarities between the situation of President Alassane Ouatarra of Ivory Coast, and President Paul Biya of Cameroon, whose countries will coincidentally hold presidential elections in October 2025.  Just like President Biya of Cameroon, President Ouattara of Ivory Coast has not yet publicly declared his candidacy for the October 2025 presidential election. Better still, Ouattara just like Biya, has not yet publicly declared whether he will go in for the presidential election or not. However with Ouattara just like with Biya, there are increasing indications that make people to think that despite the several odds, Ouattara like Biya, will likely be a candidate in the October 2025 presidential election.

Also, just like with President Biya in Cameroon,  officials, elites and militants of President Ouattara’s party in Ivory Coast,  have been publicly mobilizing support for his candidacy at the 2025 presidential election, even though he has not yet publicly declared whether he will go in for the election or not. Also, just as members of the BIya Government have scandalously been arguing that age does not matter, and claiming that the 93 old President still has much to offer the country, the Minister of Youths in Ivory Coast, Mama Toure, strongly argued in an interview with France 24 in Paris on May 1, 2025, that President Ouattara’s age does not matter, that he is still very competent, has rich experience, and can still be very useful for the country as President.

Strong Opposition To The Possible Candidacies Of Biya and Ouattara

There is also a similarity in the situation that both Presidents Biya and Ouattara are facing in their different countries, ahead of the October 2025 presidential elections.  There is strong opposition in Cameroon to President Biya’s possible participation in the 2025 presidential election, just as there is a strong opposition in Ivory Coast, for President Ouattara to go in for another mandate.  However the reasons for the strong opposition to another candidacy of President Biya, and another candidacy of President Ouattara, in their different countries, are not all the same.

The Case Of President Paul Biya

In Cameroon, the ruling CPDM in 2008 forcefully and unfortunately scrapped the limitation to the mandate of the President of the Republic, barely a few years after the article in the Constitution was adopted.  The main reasons for the strong opposition to the candidacy of the over 92 year old President Biya, who has been in power for over 42 long years, are age, longevity in power and persistent bad governance which has greatly held back the development of the country, and brought untold misery to the population. More so, it is no secret that age is weighing heavily on President Biya, and that in reality he can no longer be active like he was some years back. In the last couple of years, several members of government have been acting with impunity, as the President has clearly lost gripp of the government because of his age. That is why up till today, nothing has for example happened to those indicted in the COVIDGATE (big embezzlement scandal) by the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court.  It is the same thing with OLEMBEGATE. Worst still, while the embezzlement of public funds has become the order of the day, the country continues to be more and more heavily indebted.

 What President Alassane Ouattara Said Some Years Back About Age

Some years back, the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara,  asserted that when somebody gets up to the age of 80,  naturally he is  no longer lucid and strong enough to be the President of a country, considering the huge tasks or work that constantly flow to the table of the President of the Republic. A TRUISM! The video of President Ouattara‘s declaration circulated on social media, and is still available.  He received a standing ovation across Africa, for the important declaration he made.  But then the same President Ouattara is today 83 years old, and is trying to go in for another five year mandate. What an irony!  Has age made him to forget what he said?

 Violation And Manipulation Of The Constitution

However, the principal reason for the strong opposition to another Ouattara’s candidacy at the presidential election in Ivory Coast is his flagrant disrespect and manipulation of the Constitution. The Mentor News will not get into details about the French mafia, which was led by the then French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The 2010 presidential election in Ivory Coast in reality was won by the incumbent (President Laurent Gbagbo). The result of the election was disputed, sparking off a very bloody post electoral violence. In 2011 President Gbagbo was forcefully removed from power by Alassane Ouattara’s militia backed by French troops. Suffice to say that Alassane Ouattara , who was   the French candidate in the 2010 Ivorian presidential  election, was installed as the new President of Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Constitution of Ivory Coast clearly states that a presidential mandate is five years renewable only once. This means that the maximum period for somebody to be President of Ivory Coast, is two mandates or 10 years. The first mandate of President Ouattara in power, ended in 2015, considering that he was brought to power on  the allegation that he was  the winner of  the 2010 presidential election in Ivory Coast.   Not surprisingly enough, Ouattara won re-election in 2015. His second and last mandate was thus supposed to end in 2020.

 New Constitution In 2018

In 2018, which was two years to the end of the last mandate of Alassane Ouattara as President of the Republic, he embarked on a manipulation of the Constitution in a strategy to hang on in power. The Ouattara regime carried out a so called renewal of the Constitution of Ivory Coast.  It should however be noted that the mandate of the President of the Republic in the purported new Constitution  of Ivory Coast, remained intact, that is, five years renewable once.

But then President Ouattara turned around and said that following the adoption of the so called new Constitution of Ivory Coast, everything starts from zero as regard his mandate as President of the Republic. By this he meant that the two mandates he has had as President of the Republic, no longer counted, and that he could thus feely go in for the 2020 presidential election. The issue was so hotly contested in the entire Ivory Coast, with those opposed to the Ouattara’s claim accusing him of manipulation to hang on to power, and that it was totally unacceptable. It should be noted that the strong opposition to Ouattara’s manipulation was not only by opposition parties. Many members of the civil society as well as many other people, who were not in politics, were opposed to Ouattara’s manipulation to get another mandate.

 Re-election In 2020 Termed A Third Mandate / Strong Opposition To Fourth Mandate

Meanwhile, despite the strong opposition, President Ouattara with the support of his party as well as other people that support him, and of course France that always backs him, forcefully participated in the 2020 presidential election which his government that controls the courts and  the Electoral Commission, organized for him to win. He of course won.

But while President Ouattara, and his supporters have been referring to the mandate he got in the 2020 presidential election as his first mandate, the opposition have been insisting that it was an illegal third mandate. That has been the situation up till date, and it is the main reason for the strong opposition by the Ivorian people to  Alassane Ouattara’s participation in the 2025 presidential election.

Those opposed to Ouattara’s participation in the 2025 presidential election, considers his participation in the election as running for a fourth mandate. They assert it will be a gross violation of the Constitution that limits the presidential mandate to five years, renewable once, thus a maximum of 2 mandates or 10 years. Those opposed to Ouattara’s candidacy for the 2025 presidential election, say if the Ivorian people were peacefully opposed to Ouattara’s going in for a third term which was a flagrant violation of the Constitution, he should not insult, or provoke the people further, or take their peaceful opposition to the 3^rd mandate for granted, by going in for the 4^th mandate.

“Fourth Mandate Will Be A Big Insult To The Ivorian People”, Meiwey 

Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that popular Ivorian artist, Meiwey, who is well known in Cameroon, and in fact has an international status, is one of the  several popular figures in Ivory Coast that have not minced words, in their opposition to the participation of President Ouattara in the 2025 presidential election. Meiwey considers, that such a participation, will for the 4^th mandate, which is grossly illegal.

In a video message that he addressed to President Ouattara, and that appeared on social media, Meiwey among other things bluntly told the President that his participation in the 2025 presidential election will not only be a big insult to the Ivorian people, but that another gross violation of the Constitution like happened in 2020, will make him to loss respect for President Ouattara.  The international musician urged President Ouattara to listen to voice of reason, and stay away from participation in the 2025 presidential election. It should be noted that there are millions of Meiwey in Ivory Coast.

Some Cameroonian Artists Speak Out

In Cameroon, artists in general shy away from openly criticizing President Biya’s very long stay in power, because they make money from staging at public and private events organized by members of the regime, and fear they would no longer be invited, if they criticize the President’s too much stay in power. A number of poplar Cameroonian artists like Richard Bona, Charlotte Dipanda, Petit Pays, Valsero, Longue Longue among others, have individually made bold to openly call for a change at the next presidential election, for the interest of Cameroon and its people.