In an exclusive interview with France 24 from Abidjan, Simone Gbagbo, second vice-president of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) and wife of former president Gbagbo, believes that the candidacy for a third term of outgoing president, Alassane Ouattara, is unconstitutional and that he must withdraw it.
She claims to support the calls for "civil disobedience" launched by the opposition, adding that the conditions for a transparent election are not met.
According to her, a real opposition alliance has been formed against this election, scheduled for October 31.
"The postponement of the presidential election is essential," she assures us.
>> To read: "Who are the four candidates for the Ivorian presidential election?"
"Alassane Ouattara tramples on the Constitution"
The former First Lady of Côte d'Ivoire also calls for reform of the Electoral Commission, the Constitutional Council, an audit of the electoral list and the release of "political prisoners".
If she thanks President Alassane Ouattara for having granted her amnesty in 2018, she believes that the latter "puts the country in difficulty", threatening democracy and the rule of law in her country, because it "tramples on the Constitution".
If he did not want to run for a third term, his party would have been able to find a replacement candidate, she says on France 24. She also criticizes the violence that followed the announcement of his candidacy for a third term, which she describes as a "bloodbath".
When asked whether she considers the current regime to be a “dictatorship”, Simone Gbagbo replies: “I don't see another word to qualify such a regime, it is”.
The former First Lady is also demanding the return of Laurent Gbagbo to Côte d'Ivoire and his amnesty.
The former president was sentenced to twenty years in prison in the case of the heist of the BCEAO, the Central Bank of West African States, a political decision, according to the second vice-president of the Ivorian Popular Front, who accuses the authorities of not wanting Laurent Gbagbo to return.
"He has the right to come back to his country. We must let him return to his country (…) He wants to return to his country and the Ivorians here are waiting for him", she insists on France 24
.
She also protests against the trial that was made against her husband before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and hopes that the judges will acquit him definitively on appeal.
The former president currently resides in Belgium, where he lives on parole.
"I have a political future in Côte d'Ivoire"
Returning to the post-electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire and the episode of her arrest in April 2011, alongside her husband, she affirms that Nicolas Sarkozy, the then French president, had ordered the bombing of the Presidential Palace .
She also claims to have been the victim of attempted rapes during her arrest, adding that French soldiers filmed this episode.
“I saw them with my own eyes,” she said.
As for her future, Simone Gbagbo says she wants to throw all her strength into the current electoral battle, but implicitly, she does not rule out running for the presidency one day.
>> To see, our debate: "Ivory Coast, threats on the presidential election?"
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