How old do you have to be to be a candidate for the post of President of the Republic in Ivory Coast? The 2000 Constitution had limited this age to 75 years. Then that of 2016 removed this limitation, thus allowing people over the age of 75 to be able to present themselves. Mr. Jean-Louis Billon, who does not hide his desire to be a candidate in the next presidential election, has just relaunched the debate on this age limit during a recent interview he granted to Radio France Internationale (RFI). He proposed that we return to this limit at 75, while regretting that “the political world does not know retirement. In the process, RFI organized its Wednesday “calls on news” debate on this question, and many Ivorians spoke. Among the arguments put forward for those who want an age limit, there was the fact that the three political leaders targeted by this limitation proposal, MM. Alassane Ouattara, Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo, have monopolized the Ivorian political scene for more than thirty years, the need to rejuvenate the political class, the need to allow a young person to also lead the country, the hiatus between these three leaders and their population which is mainly made up of young people under the age of thirty, etc.
For my part, I believe that the problem is badly posed. Listening to the arguments of each other, one has the impression that only people over the age of 75 and over have the right to be candidates in Ivory Coast. However, nothing prevents a 35-year-old from running for the highest office. In 2020, Kouadio Konan Bertin dit KKB was not 75 years old, and he was able to stand for the presidential election. Nothing therefore prevents Mr. Billon, or anyone else, in any party or independently, who is not 75 years old, but is at least 35 years old, from standing for election. presidential. The reality is that Mr. Billon's problem lies elsewhere. He wants to be the candidate of Parti démocratique de Côte d’Ivoire (Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI). But in this party, there is an old crocodile who does not talk much, but who knows how to crunch all the young fish who want to challenge his authority in his backwater. Mr. Billon knows that to be the candidate of the PDCI, his party, Mr. Bédié must say that he is not a candidate himself, and wants him, Billon to be. However, nothing indicates that the Sphinx of Daoukro will not appear again. Even if it means withdrawing at the last moment when no one in his camp will be able to present a candidacy. And Mr. Billon knows that he cannot face the old crocodile directly. So he would like the law to solve his problem. But that should not be the role of the Constitution. We are not going to change the Constitution every time we no longer want someone's head. We have suffered enough in this country from these tailor-made Constitutions to exclude people.
It is therefore up to the young wolves within the political parties to find the means to put their old crocodiles into retirement to take their places, if such is the desire of the militants. Once these problems have been settled within the political parties, it will be up to the Ivorians to choose between these young wolves and those who are called "the old ones". It being understood that Ivorians know full well that being young is not necessarily an indicator of competence and moral probity, and that in certain situations, it is better to be led by an experienced "old man" rather than by a young man who knows nothing about the management of a State. There are indeed incompetent young people, dictators, bloodthirsty, dishonest.
In the RFI program, a listener underlined the fact that a very old president does not always have the lucidity necessary to lead a state. And he cited the example of the repeated blunders and certain oversights of American President Joe Biden. The question is interesting. This is precisely why there are elections. If Ivorians feel that a particular candidate is visibly too age-weary to campaign, or too old to have the foresight required to be president, they simply will not vote for him. Let us grant the Ivorians this wisdom which allows them to know if the age of the captain can allow them to be led safely or not.
By Venance Konan
*This article has been translated from French into English by Marcus Boni Teiga
