Presidential election in Ivory Coast: KKB, a PDCI dissident submitted his candidacy

Kouadio Konan Bertin, known as KKB, at odds with the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI, the main opposition party) submitted his candidacy to the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) in Abidjan on Wednesday, presenting himself as " independent candidate ”. "I am an independent candidate, I come for the people of Côte d'Ivoire", declared KKB, specifying that it "was not a candidacy of rupture with the PDCI".

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Known for his banter, KKB had already run for the 2015 presidential election by finishing 3rd with 3.88% of the vote while former President Henri Konan Bédié, head of the PDCI, supported President Alassane Ouattara, then a candidate for a second term. "Not having a candidate in 2015 means participating together in the signing of the death certificate of the party of Félix Houphouët-Boigny" , the first president of Côte d'Ivoire (1960-1993), he said. indicated. This time, he is running again against his party, which nominated Kouadio Konan Bédié, 86, candidate.

Candidates have until Monday midnight to submit their applications and do not necessarily have to be physically present. On Monday, President Alassane Ouattara submitted his candidacy, calling for "peace" after the violence that has left at least eight dead since the announcement that he would seek a third term. Elected in 2010 then re-elected in 2015, the head of state, 78, initially announced in March his intention not to stand for re-election on October 31 and to hand over to his Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly . But he died suddenly on July 8 from a heart attack.

The Constitution limits presidential terms to two. Supporters of Alassane Ouattara claim that the change of the Constitution in 2016 has reset the mandate counter to zero, his opponents deem a third candidacy unconstitutional. In addition, the pro-Gbagbo coalition announced on Wednesday that it will present a candidacy for former President Laurent Gbagbo in the ballot, while he is still in Belgium, pending a possible appeal before the International Criminal Court (ICC) which acquitted him at first instance. The fear of violence in the run-up to the October 31 election is strong, ten years after the crisis born out of the 2010 presidential election, which left 3,000 dead after President Gbagbo's refusal to recognize Alassane Ouattara's victory.