Following the presidential elections marked by tensions and a popular contestation of the election of the outgoing president, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, to a third term as head of Côte d’Ivoire, the time is for dialogue, in search of national cohesion. On Saturday 21 December 2020, Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, instructed by President Alassane Ouattara, announced an inclusive dialogue between the government, the opposition and civil society.
Following the postponement of the parliamentary elections initially scheduled for December 2020, the Ivorian government is seeking to ease the tensions that resulted from the presidential election on 31 October 2020. Alassane Ouattara’s desire to bring together the vital forces of the nation and hope for a better tomorrow for Côte d’Ivoire could meet the resistance of a part of the opposition which, until now, refuses to recognize the election of the President who, According to her, was not entitled to an additional mandate.
The national dialogue could become fragile in a context where the Executive Secretary of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), Maurice Kakou Guikahué, arrested in November 2020 as part of the post-election demonstrations, has just undergone a medical transfer to France following the deterioration of his state of health. In addition, opposition leaders such as Pascal Affi Nguessan are still in detention for the same reasons. This situation may not make the reunion between the presidential camp and the members of the opposition easy.
However, some opposition leaders present at the contact meeting on Saturday, December 21, 2020, leave a wind of hope for a strong national consensus. They are the PDCI of Henri Konan Bédié, the Popular Ivorian Front (FPI) of Pascal Affi Nguessan and the platform Ensemble pour la Démocratie et la Souveraineté (EDS) close to former president Laurent Gbagbo.
