Ivory Coast: Ouattara summons parliamentarians and ministers to Yamoussoukro

Text by: RFI Follow

Alassane Ouattara is due to speak this Thursday, March 5 in Yamoussoukro before the two chambers of Parliament meeting in Congress. A speech on the state of the nation which takes on a very special character when a constitutional reform is imminent and the presidential election is held in less than 8 months.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Abidjan , Pierre Pinto

Sunday, March 1, a circular is issued by the secretary general of the government ordering the ministers to be present in Yamoussoukro Thursday for a " meeting in Congress of the Parliament at the request of the President of the Republic ". The usual exercise, it is explained to the presidency, is that of the annual speech on the state of the nation.

However, on Monday, several parliamentarians contacted by RFI said they were not aware of this Thursday morning meeting. A meeting that promises to be politically important, however, while the executive does not hide its desire to see revised, before the end of the first quarter, the Constitution adopted less than four years ago.

If for Thursday no agenda has been provided, many observers expect to discover the contours of the reform desired by the President of the Republic less than eight months from the presidential election. From a hypothetical rearrangement of the prerogatives of the vice-president and the Prime Minister to a possible change in the presidential electoral system, from two to one round, speculation is rife.

There would no longer be any question, however, of a return of an age limit for presidential candidates. This would leave the field open to a possible candidacy of Alassane Ouattara for a 3rd mandate.

Itself lets hang the suspense , although the opposition reminds that the Constitution limits to two the number of mandates. In the presidential camp, it is estimated that the adoption of a new constitution in 2016 has reset the counters and that the outgoing president can therefore run again.

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