Stop the constitutional coup in Côte d’Ivoire: A threat to peace, security and sub-regional stability

Since Ivorian President Alassane Dramane OUATTARA announced that he would stand for a third term in the presidential election scheduled for 31 October 2020, more than twenty people have been killed, hundreds injured and several people detained, including opposition members, parliamentarians and human rights activists. This unconstitutional power grab is now causing more deaths, violence and instability than military coups.

The electoral process is marked by serious preliminary disputes stemming from a breakdown in consensus over:

• The composition of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI);
• The Constitutional Council;
• The conduct of the sponsorship process, which led to the exclusion of major political candidates, including Laurent Gbagbo, Guillaume Soro, Albert Mabri Toikeusse and Mamadou Koulibaly — and the political leaders forced into exile;
• President Alassane Dramane OUATTARA’s candidacy for an unconstitutional third term; and
• Growing distrust of the electoral process, which prompted the Ivorian opposition to create a civil disobedience movement.

The presidential election of 31 October 2020 appears to carry the same seeds of violence as the 2010 election, which cost thousands of lives. In light of the deteriorating security situation in West Africa, the crisis of the rule of law, democracy and universal suffrage — exacerbated by the third-term syndrome — could threaten to destabilise the sub-region. The region is increasingly vulnerable because of asymmetric conflicts in some ECOWAS countries.

A presidential election is a celebration of democracy and the rule of law, and should allow fundamental freedoms to flourish: freedom of expression, association and assembly. In Côte d’Ivoire, however, demonstrations are banned or violently repressed, and civic space is severely restricted.

In view of the threats to peace, security and stability posed by the 31 October presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire, we, citizens of the Economic Community of West African States, recommend:

• That the Ivorian government postpone the 31 October presidential election to a later date and invite all stakeholders involved in the electoral process to take part in a broad national dialogue on all the outstanding disputes in the process, including the institutions responsible for regulation and arbitration, in order to build national consensus for transparent, democratic and peaceful elections;
• That President Alassane Dramane OUATTARA withdraw his candidacy for a third term, which threatens civil peace and national unity; and
• That political actors and leaders, together with civil society, work towards a peaceful and reconciled Côte d’Ivoire and an ECOWAS region founded on peace, stability, tolerance and solidarity.

We urge ECOWAS and the African Union to work together to prevent another civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. We call on them to act immediately to postpone the election and facilitate a broad national dialogue leading to transparent, peaceful, inclusive and consensus-based elections.

Issued on 28 September 2020

By the Collective “For an ECOWAS of the People”