Let the Presidential Race Begin

Pascal Affi N'Guessan, former Prime Minister of President Laurent Gbagbo with whom he now has a strained relationship, filed his bid Thursday at the Independent Electoral Commission, to officially be in the running for president in the upcoming October elections. "We have just submitted our candidacy. We are running for this election with great ambitions for our country. I want to be the candidate of all Ivorians from North to South, from East to West," declared the newly registered candidate, Mr. Affi N'Guessan.

He took legal control of the Ivorian Popular Front party (FPI) founded by Laurent Gbagbo — against the will of the faction that remained loyal to the former president, nicknamed the GOR (Gbagbo or Nothing). Affi N'Guessan came second in his attempt to run, winning only 9.29% of the votes, in the presidential election of 2015.”

The former First Lady, Simone Gbagbo, in her reaction to his candidacy, stated, "He is a citizen, he can run but he is not a candidate of my party.

Candidates have until midnight on Monday to submit their bids for the presidential race and do not necessarily have to be physically present in order to do so as confirmed by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The fear of violence in the countdown to the upcoming elections in October is permeating the nation as it comes ten years after the crisis that erupted during the 2010 presidential elections which killed 3,000 people. A chaotic moment in Ivorian history that occurred after then-President Gbagbo refused to recognise the victory of now-president Alassane Ouattara.