Ivorians went to polling stations yesterday, Saturday, to elect 255 members of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Assembly, in legislative elections marked by deep political divisions lingering from the recent presidential vote.
The parliamentary vote comes two months after President Alassane Ouattara was re-elected with 90% of the vote, a result heavily contested by the opposition, which criticized the exclusion of key figures from the presidential race due to court rulings.
Reflecting these tensions, the African Peoples’ Party, linked to former President Laurent Gbagbo, announced a full boycott of the legislative elections.
More than 2,700 candidates, including around 800 independents, ran for office. On the eve of the vote, Ouattara’s party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), was widely expected to secure a comfortable majority, dominating the outgoing assembly and contesting all constituencies.
Civil society groups view the elections as a crucial test of political balance in the country. Koné Mamadou, chairman of the NGO Action Justice, said the vote would measure the national strength of both the ruling party and the opposition.
A new political force also emerged to challenge the established polarization. The Democratic Alliance of Côte d’Ivoire (ADCI), founded in June 2024, fielded 45 mostly young candidates with hopes of forming a parliamentary bloc. Some 8.7 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots.