However, the peace dialogue between the government and the opposition was off to a good start. The two parties, the government and the opposition, wanted to find common ground in order to find a peaceful political relationship. However, this dialogue was suspended on Tuesday, 29 December, without an agreement being signed.
The talks lasted a week between the two parties. The aim was to calm the tense political climate since the controversial election of President Alassane Dramane Ouattara for a third term. The other objective of this political dialogue was also to organize the general elections of March 2021, but the blockages continue to persist.
Points of disagreement include the release of imprisoned political leaders after the presidential election on 31 October 2020; the return of former President Laurent Gbagbo, who had been in exile since the 2010 electoral crisis.2011; the dissolution and reconstitution of the electoral commission, a commission considered unbalanced by the members of the opposition and entirely in favor of power according to them.
A direct and frank dialogue is needed according to several opposition leaders, a dialogue that brings together the leaders of the three major Ivorian parties, namely former presidents Henri Konan Bédié of the PDCI, the Democratic Party of Cöte d’Ivoire-Rassemblement démopcratique africain, who is the current opposition leader, and founder Laurent Gbagbo with his wife Simone of the left-wing party, the FPI, the Ivorian Popular Front, historic opponent of Félix Houphouët-Boigny; and finally president Alassane Dramane Ouattara president of the RHDP party, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, whose third mandate remains in dispute.
The presidential election on 31 October was marked by violence before and after the election. The opposition had called for a campaign of civil disobedience to demonstrate its opposition to the third term of the then outgoing president, Alassane Dramane Ouattara. In addition, 85 people were killed and 500 injured between August and November as a result of post-election violence.
