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Q&A-COTE D'IVOIRE: OPPOSITION LEADER PREDICTS DELAYED ELECTION.

Article Excerpt
By Michael Deibert

ABIDJAN, C"te d'Ivoire, Oct. 23, 2007 (IPS/GIN) -- Ivorian opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has twice been barred from running for the presidency.

Analysts are wondering whether Ouattara may have more luck in the next presidential election, which many hope will take place next year.

In 1995 and 2000, he was kept off the ballot by a law excluding candidates with a parent of foreign nationality, or who had lived outside of C"te d'Ivoire for the preceding five years. Some people insinuated that Ouattara's mother was Burkinab, a claim that he has always denied.

Migrants from neighboring countries and their descendants had helped C"te d'Ivoire take advantage of brisk economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s, but they became unwelcome guests when the economy declined along with commodity prices. In this context, a contentious debate flared up over the definition of Ivorian nationality.

Issues of nationality also underpinned the failed coup of 2002 and subsequent civil war that led the rebel Forces Nouvelles (New Forces) to seize control of northern C"te d'Ivoire, while the government of President Laurent Gbagbo retained control over the south. The administration was...