Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo will not run for president next October after a court upheld the election commission’s decision to strike him from the electoral rolls.
His lawyer, Claude Mentenon, told AFP that there was no longer any legal recourse possible in Côte d’Ivoire, and the country’s electoral commission struck him from the list of candidates because he was convicted of a crime.
The chairman of the electoral commission, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, said last August that anyone convicted of a crime would not be allowed to contest.
He made the announcement while revealing the revised voter’s list. Four candidates, including former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, were also removed from the list.
Gbagbo was convicted in absentia in November 2019 for the “looting” of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) following the contested election in 2010, which led to violence in the country.
