I. Coast opposition candidate quits 'rigged' presidential race

Ivory Coast's former president of the National Assembly, member of the National Coalition for Change (CNC), and 2015 presidential candidate for the Liberty and Democracy for the Republic (LIDER) party Mamadou Koulibaly. By Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

Abidjan (AFP) - Former Ivory Coast parliament speaker Mamadou Koulibaly has announced on Twitter that he is leaving what he called a "rigged" presidential election slated for October 25.

"I will not participate in these rigged elections...," he wrote on his Twitter account to his some 14,000 followers late Friday.

"I see that the Ivorian election is deliberately sabotaged by the very people who have the duty to organise it democratically: the CEI (Independent Electoral Commission) and the government," he also tweeted.

Koulibaly was not available for comment early Saturday but the National Coalition for Change (CNC), comprised of the primary opposition parties, held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of his Lider party.

The CNC has demanded the dissolution of the electoral commission in charge of polls which is considered favourable to the incumbent President Alassane Ouattara.

On Tuesday, the former foreign minister Amara Essy announced the "suspension" of his candidacy, saying that he did not want to be part of an "electoral masquerade".

Ouattara is seeking a second term on the strength of the nation's economic comeback after the violence five years ago triggered by ex-president Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down and acknowledge Ouattara's victory at the polls.

In June, thousands of people demonstrated in Abidjan against Ouattara, with some saying he had done "nothing" for the country torn apart by conflict.