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The political party led by Ivory Coast’s former president, Laurent Gbagbo, has announced that it will withdraw from December’s parliamentary elections after a senior member was charged with “terrorist acts”.
The party said the move was prompted by what it described as an increasingly hostile political atmosphere marked by state pressure and legal intimidation.
Damana Pickass, a high-profile figure within Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), was detained on Tuesday near Abidjan. According to the state prosecutor, he is accused of inciting public unrest and seeking to undermine national institutions in relation to the October 25 presidential election.
President Alassane Ouattara secured a resounding fourth term in that vote, gaining close to 90 per cent of the ballots cast. His longtime opponents, Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse executive Tidjane Thiam, had been disqualified from running, leading to widespread frustration among opposition supporters. Authorities also banned demonstrations challenging the exclusion of their candidates.
Following a late-night meeting on Thursday, the PPA-CI declared that it would not take part in the forthcoming legislative elections, blaming a climate of “repression, persecution and judicial harassment”.
Pickass had been responsible for coordinating efforts between Gbagbo’s party and Thiam’s Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast (PDCI). He had last appeared publicly on 16 October in a video urging Ivorians to protest.
Public prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone confirmed that Pickass, whose legal name is Damana Adia, has been transferred to the anti-terrorism unit of an Abidjan court, where a judicial probe has begun. Official figures recorded 11 deaths during unrest and isolated clashes on polling day, though opposition leaders claim at least 27 people were killed. Lawyers say more than 100 individuals have been sentenced to three years in prison for their roles in the upheaval.
Earlier this year, Pickass was given a ten-year prison term for threatening state security in relation to incidents from 2021, although he had remained at liberty until this week.
Despite the withdrawal of the PPA-CI, expectations had already been high that Ouattara’s ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) would dominate the legislative elections set for December 27
