The political atmosphere in Côte d’Ivoire remains tense eight months before the presidential election on October 25, 2025, with the government spokesperson accusing the opposition of wanting to threaten the organisation of the election.
“What I’m hearing is threatening rhetoric from a certain opposition that wants to jeopardise the organisation of the next elections,” Ivorian government spokesperson and Comunications Minister Amadou Coulibaly declared Wednesday after the Council of Ministers.
However, he said, “I haven’t heard any belligerent rhetoric coming from the ruling party (…). So I want us to be factual and tell it like it is. I don’t remember seeing a member of the ruling party
threaten anyone.”
He added: “Those who are threatening, who are setting conditions for these elections to take place, we know them, we hear them, we read about them. So I would like things to be clear from this perspective”.
Twenty-five opposition parties created the Coalition for Peaceful Change in Côte d’Ivoire on March 10, 2025, with the objective of “united actions to achieve electoral reforms” with a view to
transparent and peaceful elections.
Reiterating their call for national dialogue, the opposition parties and civil society organisations sent a first letter to President Alassane Ouattara on September 26, 2024, requesting the opening of a
political dialogue.
The opposition is particularly requesting discussions with the government on reforms to electoral boundaries, the electoral roll, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Electoral Code, election financing, and election security. Following a second letter to the head of state, the Minister of the Interior and Security responded on October 29, 2024, to the opposition’s two letters regarding the convening of political dialogue. According to Ms. Simone Ehivet, spokesperson for the coalition, the minister noted that “there is no need to convene a political dialogue.”
The Minister of the Interior, she said, noted that “the fifth phase of the political dialogue
had already addressed and resolved all issues satisfactorily.”
These comments were backed by Mr. Amadou Coulibaly, rendering the call for political dialogue static.
AP/Sf/fss/as/APA