Legislative in Côte d'Ivoire: an open ballot with all the major political parties
Posters of the Electoral Commission to promote the legislative elections in the streets of Abidjan, March 5, 2021. © Paulina Zidi / RFI
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7 mins
This Saturday, March 6, 7.5 million Ivorian voters are called to the polls to renew their 255 deputies.
A very important vote since for the first time in ten years, all the major political parties are participating.
Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, who boycotted all elections since 2011, are returning to the electoral arena.
The game is therefore particularly open.
All sides are playing big and calling on their voters to mobilize.
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With our correspondent in Abidjan,
Pierre Pinto
Who weighs what?
This is the question that should be answered by
the ballot on Saturday
.
After a 2020 presidential election boycotted by the opposition, and after several polls without the FPI "Gbagbo or nothing", for the first time, the big blocs will be able to compete.
Dropped by its ex-allies, the RHDP still intends to retain its majority
This election comes after a recomposition of the Ivorian political landscape.
In the last legislative elections of 2016, the RHDP, which at the time was an alliance between the RDR of Alassane Ouattara and the PDCI of Henri Konan Bédié, won 167 seats.
76 seats were conquered by independents.
The 2021 edition promises to be more difficult for the RHDP, which wants to keep the absolute majority, set at 128 seats.
To keep it, the RHDP aligns around thirty ministers, party barons and close collaborators of Alassane Ouattara.
The candidates of power
did not skimp on the means during the campaign.
The RHDP's allies of yesterday have become its adversaries.
The PDCI even joined forces with the pro-Gbagbo of EDS, in the hope of conquering the assembly.
They present nearly 240 candidates.
In most cases, these are single candidates, with a few exceptions, such as in Gagnoa sub-prefecture, in the heart of a region considered to be a stronghold of
Laurent Gbagbo
.
A newspaper kiosk at the foot of the premises of the CEI, March 4, 2021, Abidjan.
© Paulina Zidi / RFI
A single round and multiple stakes for each side
Pascal Affi N'Guessan, left out of the Bédié-Gbagbo agreement, has also formed a small opposition bloc with the COJEP of Blé Goudé and the UDPCI of Mabri Toikeusse.
This block presents 85 candidates and hopes to be able to form a parliamentary group.
Finally, there are the independents.
They are about 800, or more than half of the candidates, and will often play spoilers.
In the Ivorian legislative elections, there is only one round.
Hence the need to conclude electoral agreements before the elections.
Of the 205 constituencies, 169 are subject to a single-member ballot: only one chair is at stake, and the candidate who wins is elected.
But 36 constituencies have several seats.
And there, there is no proportionality: it is the list that came first that takes all these seats.
In constituencies like Yopougon or Abobo, the winning list wins six deputy positions at once.
The constituency of Yopougon also represents a major challenge: the PDCI-EDS alliance will attempt to take over what was once considered a pro-Gbagbo stronghold, and over which the RHDP took control ten years ago.
► See also: Legislative in Côte d'Ivoire: the challenges of one of the most open elections for 25 years
“The Ivorians are calm, they have returned to normal.
In the presidential election, there were unrest.
But these legislative acts are really appeased.
That's reassuring, ”says Alexize, on the campus of Félix-Houphouët-Boigny University in Abidjan ...
Report: young voters hail smooth campaign in Côte d'Ivoire
Paulina zidi
Participation, a key to this election
In the last legislative elections in 2016, participation had barely exceeded 34%.
In 2018, the municipal elections had attracted 36% of those registered, and in the regional elections, the participation rate had reached 46.4%.
In 2020, four months before the presidential election, the revision of the electoral lists had aroused unprecedented enthusiasm.
All the parties had even asked for, and obtained, an extension of the operation.
Upon arrival, 900,000 new voters had registered, twice as many as during the previous revision of the lists in 2018.
After a presidential election boycotted by the opposition and marked by months of political violence and
deadly tensions
(87 dead and hundreds injured), the staffs hope that, this Saturday, many voters will go to the polls to s 'Express.
The supporters of the ruling party want to consolidate the victory of their champion,
Alassane Ouattara
, and allow him to have a free hand in the Assembly to carry out his policies.
Those in the opposition, for whom this will be the first opportunity to make their voices heard in three years, will want to respond to their leaders' call not to leave what they call "
absolute power
" to the RHDP.
Especially since this time, the campaign took place in a peaceful climate, more conducive to ensuring that voters, who are not necessarily activists, decide to slip a ballot into the ballot box.
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Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast Politics
Alassane Ouattara
Laurent Gbagbo
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