By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ivory Coast’s electoral commission has declined an appeal by the country’s former President, Laurent Gbagbo for the reinstatement of his political and civic rights, to enable him contest elections and participate in the electoral process, his party said Friday.
Following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court in Hague on alleged war crimes linked to the post-election violence in the country in 2011, Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast in 2021.
While he faced trial in Netherlands, he was delisted from his role in African People’s Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) party, a left-wing pan-African group, an action he appealed on June 8, a statement says.
The former President also faces a 20-year prison sentence in Ivory Coast for an alleged “robbery” of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in 2011.
This conviction handed down in 2018, while he was imprisoned in The Hague, resulted in the loss of his civic and political rights and therefore his removal from the electoral register.
Gbagbo says his removal from the electoral roll is “a political manoeuvre” aimed at eliminating him from political life and diminishing his party and its supporters from local elections in September, the statement said.
Gbagbo “vigorously refutes” the accusation about stealing funds from the BCEAO, and “intends to fight” the electoral commission’s decision, the statement added.
He claims he was never summoned to trial in Ivory Coast and was never notified of the judgement that was handed down in his absence.
About eight million registered voters are expected to head to the polls on September 2 to elect new municipal and regional leaders ahead of the 2025 presidential election.
