In Côte d’Ivoire, discussions have opened between Henri Konan Bédié’s PDCI and Laurent Gbagbo’s PPA-CI, five months before the regional and municipal elections. Negotiations are accelerating with a view to presenting common candidates in certain regions or municipalities.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Francois Hume-Ferkatadji
For several days, 12 PDCI officials will discuss with 12 PPA-CI officials. The two parties wish in particular to delight the communes of Koumassi, Yopougon and Grand-Bassam from the presidential party RHDP. In addition, these political formations want to be able to present candidates in the 31 regions of the country.
For several months, the PDCI has remained relatively mysterious about its alliance strategy for the local elections. Some observers are even betting on a new rapprochement with the ruling party.
But the unprecedented alliance between the PDCI and the PPA-CI which had given rise to joint candidacies during the legislative elections of 2021 could therefore be renewed. However, the negotiations promise to be tough and should only concern a small number of municipalities or regions: “ The alliance of a right-wing or far-right party with a left-wing socialist party is not always easy “, recognizes a framework of the PDCI.
The rapprochement of the PDCI with the PPA-CI, the party of Laurent Gbagbo, should on the other hand complicate the formation of a possible alliance with the Mouvement Génération Capable of Simone Gbagbo. Neither the MGC nor Charles Blé-Goudé’s Cojep take part in the ongoing negotiations between the two main opposition parties.
Wednesday, May 3, shortly after the publication of the list of PDCI candidates, a first dissident candidacy made itself known. Cocody MP Yasmina Ouegnin will face her PDCI comrade, the outgoing mayor of the town, Jean-Marc Yacé.
But the opposition parties continue to denounce the electoral division and the electoral list, a situation which ” jeopardizes the acceptance and fairness of the elections in advance “warned Henri Konan Bédié in a speech on Saturday April 29.
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