The party of Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo has announced that it will boycott December’s parliamentary elections following the arrest of one of its senior members on terrorism charges.
State prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone said Damana Pickass, detained Tuesday near Abidjan, allegedly called for an uprising and the overthrow of state institutions after the disputed October 25 presidential election.
That vote saw Gbagbo’s longtime rival, President Alassane Ouattara, secure a fourth term with nearly 90 percent of the vote, after Gbagbo and another major opposition leader, Tidjane Thiam, were barred from running.
Following an emergency meeting, Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) declared it would not take part in the upcoming legislative polls, citing a “toxic socio-political environment marked by repression, persecution and judicial harassment.”
Pickass, who coordinated ties between the PPA-CI and Thiam’s Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, had last appeared publicly on October 16 in a video urging Ivorians to protest. Authorities later banned opposition rallies ahead of the election.
Kone confirmed that Pickass, whose real name is Damana Adia, was transferred to the anti-terrorism division of an Abidjan court as a judicial investigation began.
According to official figures, at least 11 people were killed during election-related unrest, while opposition sources claim 27 fatalities. Lawyers say more than 100 people have since received three-year prison sentences.
Earlier this year, Pickass was sentenced to ten years in prison for “endangering state security” over a 2021 case but had remained free until now.
Analysts say Ouattara’s ruling party, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, remains poised to dominate the December 27 polls amid the opposition’s growing disarray.