3/7/2025–|Last update: 00:13 (Mecca time)
For more than 3 decades, the presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire have been a season for all fears and concerns about the outbreak of violence and chaos in the country that President Felix Hofuit Bouani has ruled since independence in 1960, and partisan pluralism was known only in 1990, that is, 3 years before his departure.
Since the death of Bouani in 1993, the political life in the country has become a monopoly of 3 major personalities, Henry Conan with his hands (he died in 2023), Laurent Gabago, and the current president, Hassan and Tara, who are politicians who were divided by many things (religion, ideologies, and ethnicity …) and united them to seek to succeed the late President.
Each one was justified in claiming merit to succeed Hofuit Bouyyi, as the late with his hands was the president of Parliament and allowed the constitution to take over the presidency of the country until the election date, while Wattara held the position of prime minister during his reign, while the opponent Gabbago was justifying his dream of the presidency by playing a role in establishing partisan pluralism in the country and fought the elections in 1990 in front of the first president, Bouani.
Alliance stations and violation
In these contexts, the first long relationship between Tara (83 years old) and the 80 years of age began with coordination and coordination sometimes, and by disagreement and sharp struggle at other times, until it was now listed as silent tension, while the country is preparing for presidential elections next October.
And between the two men is more factors of difference than they were between the common denominators, and the internationally known economy is a well -known economy as he worked in World Bank And other institutions, while Gabbago is a history and union professor opposing the rule of President Hofuit Bouyyi.
The two men also differ religiously and geographically. Al -Hassan and Tara descended from the north of the country, a region inhabited by a Muslim majority, an important percentage of it came from neighboring countries (Burkina Faso and Mali) to work in the coffee and cocoa sector, while Gabbago is from the south of the country with a Christian majority.
On this varying background between a man from within the ruling system and another formed in the ranks of the opposition, in 1992, the first episode in the series of collision between them was arrested when Gabbago was arrested during a peaceful demonstration, according to a “riot control” law set by the government of Ouatara, and he stayed in prison for 6 months during which he was beaten and humiliated.
However, after the death of Hofuet Bouyyi in 1993, he took his hands with the agency, and on the way to the 1995 elections, the alliance of Tara and Ghaghbo in the “Republic Front” coalition to confront his hands, but they failed to prevent his victory in the poll.
Despite their loss in the electoral race, Tara and Ghaghbo continued the coalition in the opposition front against the president with his hands until it was overthrown in 1999 in a military coup led by General Robert Gay.
Gabbago presidency, exclusion and Tara
In the atmosphere of the presidential elections in 2000, Tara and Gabbo turned into two fertile opponents, and the latter managed to alliance with the former president with his hands, to win the presidency of the country in a political context characterized by severe tension after Tara was deprived of running the race because of what was then known as the “Ivorian identity” law.
This law was formulated during the President’s rule during his hands (1993-1999), in the midst of ethnic tensions between the north and south of the country.
The law stipulated in the candidate for the presidency of the country that his parents were born in Côte d’Ivoire, which was then seemed to be designed to abort a dream and Tara heading the country by virtue of his family origins from Burkina Faso.
This law sparked severe political controversy in the country in 2002 into a civil war began by rebels in the north of the country, political affiliated with Tara, and they crawled in the south and reached a city Abidjan Which turned into a square of confrontations between the rebels and the supporters of Gabbago, in which thousands of people were killed.
When the constitutional date for the elections came in 2005, the country had not recovered from the effects of the civil war, and President Gabbago remained up to the polling until 2010, the date of the decisive confrontation with Tara, who entered the race in an alliance with his hands.
Although the results of the poll showed the progress of the candidate, Tara and confession The international community Thus, the outgoing president Gabbago remained attached to power claiming that he was the real winner of the poll.
The tension remained the master of the situation in the country, and the matter developed into violent confrontations between the supporters of the two opponents, which killed about 3,000 people, until French special forces intervened and arrested Gabbago and handed him over to the internationally recognized president’s forces, Hassan and Tara.
Ghabbo was introduced to International Criminal Court in The Hague On charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but he acquitted him in 2019 and returned to his country in 2021 in the context of a settlement with his opponent and Tara who received him in the presidential palace, and we announced together folding the page of differences between them.
Nevertheless, Gabbago is still facing a 20 -year prison sentence, and deprivation of civil rights for 10 years, to be convicted in 2019 by stealing funds from the Central Bank of Abidjan during the post -2010 elections, which puts a legal barrier to his political ambitions.
Since his return to the country, Gabbago has continued his political activity and founded a new political party, and he has not abandoned his dream of returning to the power seat, but his name was outside the last electoral regulations that were announced in preparation for the October elections.
Despite this, Gabago did not remain in the hands, as in this atmosphere he launched a wide movement that he called “Kifaya” as a platform to unify the voices opposed to the President and Tara and its most prominent members are clouds of Soro, the former ally of Tara who has been outside the country for several years, and Tijani Tiam, the leader of the opposition, which is excluded from the presidential race with judicial and political decisions.
Gabbago’s move, which many consider part of the past by virtue of his former presidential experience, and the most likely violence- are an extension of the series of tension and long attraction with its rivals and Tara.
Various contexts
The differences between the former and current presidents came this time in various contexts, as many things have changed in the country that was absent for several years.
By virtue of power, the legitimacy of Tara has gradually strengthened since 2011, and during his reign the country witnessed many economic achievements in light of a state of stability in a regional neighborhood that witnessed many military coups.
His supporters are keen to recall that the period of his reign witnessed the victory of the national team for the foot of the foot with a cup Africa Twice, 2015 and 2014.
Meanwhile, Tara still remains silent about running for a fourth term in the upcoming elections, while many data indicate that he is heading to stay in power as long as he did not disclose his support for any possible successor from his party’s cadres, in an atmosphere that appears to be cut with the ghosts of the past.