Democratically elected Mr. Laurent Gbagbo?

Mr. Laurent Gbagbo has become a dictatorial force in the Ivory Coast. After delaying elections since 2005, Gbagbo has refused a loss to rival candidate Alassane Quattara. In an interesting twist, Gbagbo was a driving force behind introducing multi-party politics. Now it appears that the man who was once praised for his courageous fight for multiparty democracy has, in the end, become exactly then kind of leader he once parodied. But what I am auguring is that political leaders are more likely to be fair and accountable leaders if they are elected by the populars. Laurent Gbagbo insists he was democratically elected in 1999, but since this first 'election' there has been evidence suggesting otherwise.

Gbagbo was highly critical of the Ivory Coast's essentially one party system that had concentrated political power in the hands of Houphouet-Boigny. He began publishing literature that advocated for more democratic systems. He faced much criticism and was eventually forced to leave the capital. He returned from his homeland late 1988, within a week of he was elected party secretary general of the FPI. Gbagbo was Houphouet- Boigny's only opponent on the ballot and was defeated, he only got 18%, while Houphouet-Boigny received 81%. the FPI declared the election was rigged, the Supreme Court refused to consider their demand for a new election.

In the 1999 tried again to win the presidential seat. Violence broke out after Henri Konan Bedie declared himself president without an election. Violence continued over the next several days, the parliamentary police defected to join the protesters, followed by sections of the military. Bedie was forced to flee and Gbagbo declared himself president. Hew was inaugurated October 26th 2000. Most of the international community agreed (United Nations, South Africa, most Western Countries) there was a lack of democratic process. Nonetheless Gbagbo claimed he was properly elected under the Constitution. As a result angry Muslims took to the streets, clashing with FPI mobs. 300 people were killed in the four days following the election.

Laurent Gbagbo, since 1999 has not been democratically elected. The very thin facade has been violently broken since the 2010 elections. If Gbagbo had been truly democratically elected maybe this would have translated into a more transparent and accountable government. But he clearly was a dictoral force to begin with. Claiming your democratically elected and being democratically elected are two very different things.