The Strategy and Policy Council (CSP) of the African Peoples' Party - Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI), meeting in extraordinary session on Wednesday, October 15, under the effective presidency of Laurent Gbagbo, denounced what it calls the "autocratic drift" of President Alassane Ouattara, accused of blocking the electoral process and clinging to an "unconstitutional fourth term."

In a statement released following a meeting held at the office of party president Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan-Cocody, the CSP painted a grim picture of the national political situation. The former head of state's party described Côte d'Ivoire as experiencing a "serious pre-election crisis" marked by "the violent repression of peaceful protests" and "the exclusion of the main opposition candidates."

The Strategy and Policy Council notably discussed the march organized on October 11 by the PPA-CI/PDCI-RDA Common Front. According to its spokesperson, these demonstrations were "brutally repressed" in Abidjan and several locations in the interior of the country.

The provisional report presented by the party states "two deaths, including a two-year-old baby asphyxiated by tear gas in Abié (Adzopé department), and a young man named Allouan Ernest, shot dead in Bonoua." The party also reports thirty injured and more than 700 arrests, including 65 people placed under arrest at the Abidjan Penitentiary Center.

Faced with this situation, the PPA-CI assures that it will not give up its fight for "democracy and the rule of law." In this statement, the party "reaffirms its determination to resolutely continue the struggle within the Common Front," in collaboration with the PDCI-RDA and civil society forces. "No other path is open to the Ivorian people who love freedom and justice than that of resistance," said the spokesperson, who called on Ivorians to mobilize "against a dictatorial regime that is trying to maintain its power through terror."

Laurent Gbagbo, for his part, praised "the determination of the Ivorian people to defend the Constitution" and promised to address the nation "in the next few days."