Ivory Coast: Ouattara grants one more seat to the opposition to the CIS

Text by: RFI Follow

Less than eight months away from the presidential election and to ease the tense political climate somewhat, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara grants an additional seat to the opposition within the CEI. A way to bring into the Election Commission a representative of the major opposition parties who refused to sit when it was created last year.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Abidjan, Pierre Pinto

In early 2019, to comply with a judgment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights which considered that the Ivorian Electoral Commission should be reformed, the Ivorian government had initiated discussions with the parties and civil society.

These discussions were cut short. The opposition wanted to overhaul everything while the government only envisaged a recomposition. The main opposition parties slammed the door and refused to sit, leaving the three opposition seats for small parties.

The central commission would go from 15 to 16 members

Since then, the significant opposition has repeatedly demanded a consensual CEI. " After examining the complaints made by the opposition and civil society as well as the meeting of the President of the FPI with the Vice-President of the Republic, the President of the Republic signed an ordinance amending the law on the CIS in order to allow the allocation of a seat in this commission to the opposition parties whose representation in Parliament is the most significant, "replied government spokesman Sidi Touré on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.

Without naming it, the press release therefore designates the PDCI. The central commission would thus go from 15 to 16 members. Local commissions are also entitled to an additional seat allocated to the opposition, from 7 to 8 members.

This question of the inclusiveness of the CEI must also come back to the table of the magistrates of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, at the request of the opposition, next March 12. Their decision will also be scrutinized very closely by the international partners of Côte d'Ivoire.

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• Ivory Coast
• Alassane Ouattara

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