Mainstream Media Praises 'Peaceful' Dictatorship Amid Crackdown
Alassane Ouattara, 83, just secured a 'landslide' fourth term as Ivory Coast's president with 89.77% of the vote. The Guardian cheerfully reports 'low turnout' made for the 'most peaceful election in years,' conveniently omitting the 'accused of clampdown on dissent' part from the headline. Of course it was peaceful. When opposition figures are jailed, exiled, or declared ineligible—like the
arrests of hundreds of opposition figures since 2020 by Ouattara's government, as documented by Human Rights Watch—there's simply less dissent to crack down on during voting. It's not peace, it's silence. How many 'landslides' does a regime need before we call it what it is?