Abidjan – Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo’s political party said Sunday that six of its members have been arrested in what it decried as a wave of repression ahead of October’s presidential elections.
Political tensions are high in the Ivory Coast ahead of the October 25 elections with opposition figures, including Gbagbo, barred from running by court rulings, and several opposition activists arrested in recent weeks.
The African People’s Party (PPA) said the six had been “kidnapped and taken to unknown locations” during the night of Saturday to Sunday.
This is how Allassane Ouattara’s militia are kidnapping people in broad daylight in Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮. They’re not even hiding it. But they want to convince us that our compatriot Alino Faso committed suicide in a gendarmerie academy. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/gDoIw988Sl
— Sy Marcus Herve Traore (@marcus_herve) August 1, 2025
“A wave of repression is sweeping across our leaders and activists,” Sebastien Dano Djedje, executive president of the PPA, said at a press conference Sunday.
He called for the immediate release of the six party members, one of whom was a substitute deputy for a district in the economic capital Abidjan.
In addition to Gbagbo, other opposition leaders such as former banker Tidjane Thiam and exiled ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro have been removed from the electoral rolls by court rulings and are unlikely to be able to run in October.
Current President Alassane Ouattara, 83, announced on Tuesday his intention to run for a fourth term.
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Source: AFP
