Côte d'Ivoire: IFF electoral process frozen, Drogba will wait

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

4 min

The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) has decided to suspend the process of appointing its next president until an extraordinary general meeting is held, scheduled for August 29, 2020. The FIF indicates that the Electoral Commission responsible for studying the candidate files failed in several homework. For 72 hours, members of the entourage of ex-superstar Didier Drogba assured that the latter had seen his application validated.

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In 1999, the cult film Fight Club came out with superstar Brad Pitt and whose three keywords were "chaos", "confusion", "soap". Twenty years later, “FIF Club” could be the sequel with Didier Drogba as a charismatic character and the themes “chaos”, “confusion” and “elections”.

Indeed, on August 12, 2020, the crisis at the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF), which has lasted for three years, has experienced yet another rebound. The election of its new president, which had (finally) been scheduled, will probably not take place on September 5, 2020. The IFF Emergency Committee has just decreed "  the suspension of the electoral process  " and the "  convocation of 'an extraordinary […] General Assembly […] on Saturday August 29, 2020 in Abidjan  ”, indicates a press release written on August 11.

" Serious shortcomings in the conduct of the electoral process "

The Emergency Committee, which brings together the most important figures of the Federation (including the outgoing boss Sidy Diallo), considers that “ the Electoral Commission  ”, set up for the occasion and chaired by the former minister of Sports René Diby, "  violated the Electoral Code of the FIF and the mandate given to him by the General Assembly  ". "  The current electoral process no longer inspires confidence,  " says one on the side of the FIF.

The reason ? There would have been a deep disagreement between the members of the said commission concerning the candidatures of at least one of the postulants. According to our information, the files of Sory Diabaté and Idriss Diallo would have passed the compliance test without incident and that of Paul Koffi Kouakou would have been rejected. On the other hand, the discussions about that of Didier Drogba would have been more tense.

On the side of the FIF, it is assured that a "  report of the Secretary of the Electoral Commission, highlights serious shortcomings in the conduct of the electoral process by said commission  ". The secretary in question thus refused to sign the last minutes of deliberation.

A former Minister of Sports implicated

In its press release, the FIF frontally criticizes the management of René Diby: "  The President of the Electoral Commission indicated" to have acted in all naivety, to preserve social cohesion, in this sensitive period ". He added that he had found an ad hoc solution with " eminent jurists, members of the Commission ".  "

Several Ivorian media have reported pressure on René Diby for the four candidatures for the presidency of the FIF to be validated. To the chagrin of four people from his team who would have opposed this decision. They would have declared "  not to recognize themselves in the decision that [René Diby] and certain members of the commission adopted on Sunday 09 August 2020  ".

The Drogba clan was already shouting victory

For 72 hours, several relatives of Didier Drogba nevertheless assured that his sponsorships had been officially validated by the electoral commission, like his campaign manager Eugène Diomandé and the former goalkeeper Copa Barry. The player, he has been discreet in recent days, even if he had made a show of force when submitting his candidacy. The ex-striker from Marseille (France) and Chelsea (England) presented himself at the headquarters of the FIF, accompanied by hundreds of supporters ...

The climate of tension within Ivorian football is indeed likely to escalate. So much so that the African Football Confederation and the International Football Federation are putting order in Ivorian affairs? According to our information, before this new rebound, there was no question of a continuation of “FIF Club” in the form of “chaos”, “confusion”, “normalization”…

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