Former Gbagbo ally Ahoua Don Mello announces his candidacy for October presidential election

Cote d’Ivoire’s presidential race is heating up with former minister Ahoua Don Mello announcing his candidacy for the October vote.  

A long-time ally of former president Laurent Gbagbo, Mello called the move a ‘precautionary candidacy.’ He said he was running against incumbent Alassane Ouattara to avoid a power vacuum after Gbagbo was barred from standing.  

Gbagbo is appealing the rejection of his candidacy for this year’s presidential election and is still the designated candidate of the African People’s Party of Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), both his and Mello’s party.  

Gbagbo immediately dismissed Mello from his party post as Vice President in charge of Pan-Africanism and Mello will run as an independent.  

Gbagbo was ousted from office in 2011 after he refused to step down, despite losing the 2010 election.  

He later faced charges before the International Criminal Court over post-election violence but was acquitted.  

Ouattara has promised that October’s election will be peaceful but observers say the exclusion of Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, who leads the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), will likely lead to unrest.