Ivorian presidential election, 2008

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This Ivorian contains information about a forthcoming election. Content may change dramatically as the election approaches.

Côte d'Ivoire

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Côte d'Ivoire

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A presidential election is planned to be held in Côte d'Ivoire on November 30, 2008.^[1] This follows a peace agreement between the government and the New Forces (former rebels) that was signed in March 2007.^[2]

Following the agreement, the election was planned to be held in the first quarter of 2008.^[2] On August 6, 2007, President Laurent Gbagbo said it would be possible, with goodwill and determination, to hold the election as early as December 2007.^[3][4] This was greeted with widespread skepticism by observers and the opposition, who said that the preparations for elections would be incomplete at such an early stage.^[4] It was announced on September 12, 2007 that the process of voter identification and registration would begin on September 25,^[5] and if it went well it was expected to be completed by the end of 2007.^[6] On September 13, the President of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), Robert Mambe, said that the presidential election should be held, "at the latest", ten months after the end of the identification process, around October 2008,^[5] and that the parliamentary election should be held 45 days after the presidential election.^[6] On September 18, Gbagbo again expressed his desire to see the elections held quickly and said that he was opposed to the "remote dates" being suggested.^[7]

The public hearings of the identification process are intended for about three million people born in Côte d'Ivoire who do not yet have identification papers. The hearings were launched on September 25 and were to be held first in Ouragahio and Ferkessédougou, respectively the home regions of Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.^[8] The French company Sagem was designated as the technical operator of the electoral register in November 2007.^[9]

On November 27, 2007, Gbagbo and Soro reached an agreement in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, that the election would be held by the end of June 2008; the electoral commission was to propose the specific date of the election.^[10] Gbagbo reiterated on December 19 that the election would be held no later than the end of June 2008, and he said that he would visit all the regions held by the New Forces by March 2008 and would then make a report to the Constitutional Council, which would in turn approve the holding of the election.^[11]

On December 22, 2007, a disarmament process planned to take place over the course of three months began with government soldiers and former rebels withdrawing from their positions near what had been the buffer zone; the forces of the two sides respectively went to barracks in Yamoussoukro and Bouaké. Gbagbo and Soro were present at Tiebissou to mark the event; Gbagbo said that, as a result, the front lines of the conflict no longer existed, and Soro said that it "effectively, concretely marks the beginning of disarmament".^[12] Government forces completed their withdrawal from the front lines on January 24, 2008.^[13]

The second meeting of the Cadre permanent de concertation (CPC), which is responsible for the implementation of the peace agreement, was concluded in Ouagadougou on January 24. At this meeting, it was decided to facilitate voter registration for those individuals receiving supplementary birth certificates through the identification process, to allow parties to begin campaigning in February, and to publish the voter list from the 2000 presidential election on the Internet.^[14]

French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner said on January 27, 2008 that the election might be delayed slightly past the end of June deadline due to technical requirements, particularly the need to update voter lists.^[15]

Alassane Ouattara, who was Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993, was designated as the presidential candidate of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) at a congress of his party held on February 1–3, 2008. At the congress, he invited the New Forces, from whom he had previously distanced himself, to team up with the RDR for the election.^[16]

The RDR and the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA) of former President Henri Konan Bédié are both members of the Rally of Houphouëtistes, and while Ouattara and Bédié will run separately in the first round of the presidential election, each has agreed to support the other if only one of them makes it into a potential second round.^[16]

While Ouattara and Bédié have said that full implementation of the peace agreement, including total disarmament of the New Forces, is not necessary prior to the holding of the election, Pascal Affi N'Guessan, the President of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), Gbagbo's party, has said that disarmament must be completed before the election.^[17]

Soro, as Prime Minister, is barred from standing as a candidate by the peace agreement. Describing himself as an "arbiter of the electoral process", Soro said in a March 2008 interview with Jeune Afrique that the New Forces would not back any candidate and its members could vote for whomever they wished. Rumors have suggested that Soro and Gbagbo have secretly agreed on an arrangement whereby Soro would support Gbagbo and, in exchange, Gbagbo would back Soro in the subsequent presidential election; Soro derided these rumors as "gossip".^[18]

By March 2008, the common view among observers was that it would be impossible to hold the election as early as June. Although no leading political figures had yet expressed that view, in March Gbagbo referred to the importance of considering actual conditions and said that it would not mean "death" if the election was not held in June.^[9]

In an assessment of the public identification hearings on April 10, the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) said that 400,000 back-up birth certificates had been issued over the course of six months and that 7,337 public hearings had been held in 11 administrative areas.^[19]

On April 14, Government Spokesman Amadou Koné announced that the presidential election would be held on November 30, 2008, thus delaying it by five months. According to Koné, the date was chosen by the CEI, which had presented a report to the government. Koné said that the parliamentary election would be held on a different date.^[20] Gbagbo expressed enthusiasm on the occasion, describing it as "a great day for Côte d'Ivoire". According to Soro's spokesman Sindou Méité, a "broad consensus" had been reached by Soro and other leading political figures regarding the date. The PDCI and RDR welcomed the announcement of a date, although they remained cautious; the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire also welcomed it. On the same day, Gbagbo signed a decree outlining the terms of cooperation between the National Institute of Statistics and the French company Sagem, the latter of which is tasked with surveying the population so that voter lists can be updated and new voter cards can be created.^[21]

After meeting with Burkinabe President Blaise Compaoré, the mediator of the Ivorian crisis, in Ouagadougou, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Ivorians to "move forward in the process of disarmament, reunification of the country and full restoration of state authority". Although he noted that progress had been made, Ban said that he and Compaoré agreed that there was much more to do. The New Forces have blamed the stalling of the process on lack of money.^[22]

On April 26, the Republican Union for Democracy (URD), which is part of the National Congress for Resistance and Democracy (CNRD), announced that it was backing Gbagbo's candidacy.^[23]

Speaking in Sourbé on April 27, Bédié urged "peace-loving Ivorian citizens and the international community to ensure that elections ... are fair, transparent, clean and open".^[24] On April 29, Ouattara called for the public identification hearings, which were due to end in May, to be extended by one or two months, saying that many people had not yet been able to participate.^[19]

On May 2, 2008, the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the New Forces, which had been launched on December 22, 2007, began in Bouaké with 1,000 former rebels. 43,000 former rebels are planned to ultimately be involved in the process, which is intended to last for about five months, with completion envisioned by late September, according to New Forces General Soumaïla Bakayoko. Bakayoko said that 22,000 former rebels would "receive funding to carry out micro-projects", while the remainder would be integrated into the army.^[25]

On May 7, several other countries, including France, Japan, and the United States, announced that they were providing 115 billion CFA francs in aid money to fund the election and the process of resolving the civil war. The third meeting of the CPC, chaired by Compaoré,^[26] was held on May 9 at the House of Deputies in Yamoussoukro; those present included Gbagbo, Soro, Ouattara, and Bédié. Soro was to present a report on the peace process and CEI President Robert Mambé was to present a report on CEI's work.^[27] The meeting concluded with a communiqué urgently appealing to the international community to provide financing for the electoral process. According to Soro, another 35 billion CFA francs are needed.^[26]

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