The opposition party of Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo said Thursday it will boycott December parliamentary elections after a high-ranking party official was charged with “terrorist acts”.Damana Pickass was detained near Abidjan Tuesday on allegations he “called for a popular insurrection and the overthrowing of (state) institutions” linked to the October 25 presidential vote, a prosecutor said.That election saw Gbagbo’s bitter rival, Alassane Ouattara, re-elected with nearly 90 percent of the vote, while the former president was barred from standing along with another opposition leader, Tidjane Thiam.After a meeting late Thursday, Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) announced it would “not participate in the upcoming legislative elections” due to a “toxic socio-political environment” of “repression, persecution and judicial harassment”.Authorities had banned protests against the barring of opposition candidates from the ballot.Pickass, whose real name is Damana Adia, was last seen in a video on October 16 urging Ivorians to demonstrate.Public prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone said Pickass had been taken to the anti-terrorism section of an Abidjan court and a judicial investigation had been opened.Gbagbo called on the government to postpone the parliamentary elections.”Going ahead in December means covering up the misconduct that took place, covering up the injuries and deaths,” he said on social media.According to an official tally, 11 people died in protests and sporadic violence on polling day. Opposition figures say 27 people were killed.More than 100 people have been handed three-year jail terms as a result of the unrest, according to lawyers.Pickass was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison for “endangering state security” relating to events dating back to 2021 but has remained free.Ouattara’s party, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), is expected to easily win the December 27 legislative ballot, regardless of the PPA-CI’s withdrawal.
