Ivory Coast: the return of the debate on the age limit of presidential candidates
The elected representative of Tiassalé affirms that "at the opening of the parliamentary session of April 2022", he will propose to restore the age limit for presidential candidates to 75 years.
(illustrative image) AFP - SIA KAMBOU
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In recent days, the recurring debate on the age limit for presidential candidates has returned to the forefront of the political scene.
In a country where 78% of the population is under 35, the same three leaders have taken center stage for three decades: Alassane Ouattara, 79, Henri Konan Bedié, 87 and Laurent Gbagbo, 76.
A deputy relaunches the debate and ensures that the question will be submitted to Parliament in 2022. The 75-year ceiling provided for in the 2000 Constitution had been withdrawn in that of 2016.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Pierre Pinto
It is the independent deputy and mayor of Tiassalé, Antoine Assalé Tiémoko, who revived the debate with a Facebook post entitled "
the age of political retirement
".
In this short text, he says that "
at the opening of the parliamentary session in April 2022
", he will propose to restore the age limit for presidential candidates to 75 years.
"
The deputies are in the majority wanting this change
", assures RFI the elected representative of Tiassalé, who intends to table this project with other independent parliamentarians but also from the ranks of the majority, and of the opposition.
By announcing this more than seven months in advance, Antoine Assalé Tiémoko hopes that the debate will have time to infuse.
It must be said that restoring the age limit requires a modification of the Constitution voted by 2/3 of parliamentarians (deputies and senators) meeting in Congress.
For several months, at the top of the State it has been considering setting a new ceiling age.
However, the question divides even within the parties.
Opponents of the age limit believe that it is not the law to exclude personalities who have had the votes of Ivorians in turn.
The partisans consider that their forced retirement would provoke a necessary renewal of the political class.
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