Exiled Ivory Coast Opposition Leader Vows Run for Presidency
Exiled Ivory Coast Opposition Leader Vows to Run for President
Ivory Coast opposition leader Guillaume Soro signaled he’ll return to the West African nation to take part in presidential elections scheduled for October.
Soro, a 47-year-old former rebel leader, has been traveling in Europe since mid-2019 and was scheduled to return home in December, but abandoned those plans when the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on charges including endangering state security. Soro has denied wrongdoing and says the accusations were fabricated by President Alassane Ouattara.
“I will be a candidate in my country’s election,” Soro told reporters Tuesday in Paris.
Soro has been a dominant figure in the political landscape of the world’s biggest cocoa producer for at least 15 years. He surfaced as the political mastermind of rebels who seized the north of the country following a failed attempt to oust then-President Laurent Gbagbo in 2002, serving as prime minister under the former leader before siding with Ouattara in a bloody 2010-11 post-election conflict.
He launched a political movement last year after resigning as parliament’s speaker when it became clear that Ouattara wouldn’t name him as a political successor.
Soro said Tuesday he has an agreement with Henri Konan Bedie, leader of the PDCI party and also former ally of Ouattara, that whoever is better placed after the first round of the polls would support the other in a second round.
Ouattara hasn’t yet ruled out running for the presidency again after initially saying he would step down after two five-year terms.
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To contact the reporter on this story: Leanne de Bassompierre in Abidjan at ldebassompie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson
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