Presidential elections in Ivory Coast 2010

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The 2010 Ivory Coast presidential elections took place on October 31, 2010 and November 28, 2010. As a result of the civil war in Ivory Coast , the elections originally planned for 2005 have been postponed several times. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo won the first round of elections ahead of his main challenger, Alassane Ouattara .

According to the " Independent Electoral Commission " (CEI, Commission Électorale Indépendante de Côte d'Ivoire) , opposition leader Ouattara won the runoff election on November 28, 2010 against Gbagbo. The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) contradicted the electoral commission and declared Gbagbo the winner. Regardless of international protests, Laurent Gbagbo took an oath of office for a second term before the Constitutional Council on December 4, 2010. Shortly thereafter, however, Alassane Ouattara also took the oath of office as President in a letter addressed to the Constitutional Council, so that the Ivory Coast had two presidents by April 2011.

Background - division and civil war

Map of Ivory Coast, which was divided after the civil war, including the buffer zone between the civil war parties, which has since been dissolved.

The elections were held in a divided country. The rebels of the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (FN) held the northern part and government troops held the southern part of the Ivory Coast . The division of the country was the result of the civil war that raged between 2002 and 2007 in Ivory Coast , the history of which in turn included the exclusion of candidates and voters with a migration background from the northern neighboring states of Ivory Coast from the Ivory Coast presidential elections in 1995 and 2000 . The elections were originally scheduled for 2005, but have since been postponed several times.

In advance

Majorities in the constituencies after the first ballot:
  • RDR, Alassane Ouattara, Rassemblement des républicains de Côte d'Ivoire
  • PDCI, Henri Konan Bédié, Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire
  • LMP, Laurent Gbagbo, La Majorité Présidentielle

    • A total of 14 candidates were accepted for the 2010 presidential election. The three promising candidates Henri Konan Bédié , Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo were each actors in this background. As president in the 1995 and 2000 elections, Bédié had prevented his rival Ouattara, who came from the north of the country, from running by questioning the Ivorian (Ivorian = citizen of the Ivory Coast) citizenship of his parents and introducing a clause that only people whose parents are both Ivorian citizens are allowed to run for president. This law outraged many North Ivorians who traditionally have family ties in the neighboring countries or whose ancestors often come from there. Gbagbo, President of Ivory Coast since 2000, used the same strategy of marginalization of northern Ivorians as his predecessor Bédié. The beginning of the civil war in 2002 fell during his presidency. In 2006, so-called audiences foraines were supposed to clarify who is an Ivorian citizen and who is therefore entitled to vote. Gbagbo's supporters were accused of having massively obstructed the registration of northern Ivorians. The three candidates have clear regional and ethnic roots: Ouattara stands for the north of the country, Bédié for the center and Gbagbo for the south.

    Secretary-General Choi Young-jin's Special Envoy approved the final register of voters on September 24, 2010. The permit was part of the Ouagadougou Armistice Agreement .

    Six candidates were not admitted: Boagnon Breiguai Charles, Coulibaly Nablé Yaya, Gaha Degna Hippolyte, Goba David, Guédé José Abel and Kéita Tiémoko.

    First ballot

    Three candidates together received about 95 percent of all votes.

    The turnout was 83 percent, making it one of the highest in elections in Africa. The feared unrest when the election results were announced did not materialize. International observers spoke of mostly fair elections. Only the losing third, Henri Konan Bédié, doubted the result and asked for the votes to be recounted.

    Presidential elections in Ivory Coast 2010
    candidate Political party First round
    absolutely percentage
    Laurent Gbagbo Front Populaire Ivoirien 1,756,504 38.04%
    Alassane Ouattara Rassemblement des Républicains 1,481,091 32.07%
    Henri Konan Bédié Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire 1,165,532 25.24%
    Albert Mabri Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d'Ivoire 118,671 2.27%
    Konan Gnamien Union for Côte d'Ivoire 17.171 0.37%
    Francis Wodié Ivorian Workers' Party 13,406 0.29%
    Siméon Konan independent 12,357 0.27%
    Anne Jacqueline Lohouès Oble independent 12,273 0.27%
    Pascal Tagoua independent 11,674 0.25%
    Innocent Anaky Movement of the Forces of the Future 10,663 0.23%
    Adama Dolo independent 5,972 0.13%
    N'Douba Enoh Aka independent 5,311 0.12%
    Félix Akoto Yao independent 4,773 0.10%
    Henri Tohou Socialist Union of the People 2,423 0.05%
    Registered voters 5,711,753
    Votes cast 4,843,445 83.73%
    Valid votes 4,617,823

    Second ballot

    The runoff between Gbagbo and Ouattara took place on November 28, 2010. Before the election, Bédié and Ouattara agreed to support each other in a runoff election against Gbagbo. In addition, the opposition politician Ouattara was supported by the former rebels.

    In the run-up to the runoff election, there were violent clashes between supporters of both candidates. In order to guarantee a peaceful runoff election, the United Nations increased the contingent of blue helmet soldiers on the UN mission ONUCI . Bloody unrest also broke out on election day, which cost several lives. African election observers from Korhogo reported confiscations of urns and "election recommendations" under threat of violence. This representation coincides with the impressions that the FAZ gained in telephone conversations with residents of the big cities in the north. In contrast, observers from the European Union described the election process as largely correct. However, these had not been sent to the disputed northern regions.

    aftermath

    Dispute over the result

    The official deadline for the announcement of the election results (according to the constitution no later than 72 hours after the polling stations were closed) passed without result.

    On December 2, 2010, the electoral commission announced the preliminary results of the runoff election, according to which Ouattara was the winner. He received 54% of the vote with a voter turnout of over 81%. The Constitutional Council , on the other hand, declared the provisional result of the electoral commission to be invalid because the result had not been announced in due time. The Constitutional Council also announced a review of election complaints after Gbagbo's party sought to cancel the election results in three constituencies in the north. These are the regions of Savanes , Denguélé and Worodougou . Confusion was caused by the fact that Youssouf Bakayoko , President of the Election Commission, announced the result in the hotel in which Ouattara had moved into his base and which was secured by UN troops, which in turn were blocked by the Ivorian military.

    One day later, on December 3, 2010, the Constitutional Council finally declared incumbent Gbagbo the winner with 51.45% and a turnout of 71.28%. The Constitutional Council had declared the votes from seven constituencies, which represent about 13% of the electorate, to be invalid.

    On the same day, the UN special envoy and head of the Ivorian UN mission UNOCI, Young-Jin Choi, announced the result of the certification of the election. According to his investigations, the runoff election took place in a “democratic atmosphere”, the cancellation of votes from the northern regions by the Constitutional Council is not based on facts and the UNOCI does not have to follow the judgment of the Constitutional Council, as the Ivorian government has the Young-Jin Chois mandate as the certifier of choice. Even if all of Gbagbo's election complaints were taken into account, this would not change the outcome of the election.

    The Constitutional Council was considered to be loyal to the government because its members were appointed by the President of the Republic and the President of Parliament, while the chairman was appointed by the President alone. Council chairman Paul Yao N'Dré , together with Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, founded the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), to which all three belong. He was considered one of Gbagbo's confidants.

    The Independent Electoral Commission (Commission Électorale Indépendante, CEI) was assessed by some political observers as not really independent, as it is dominated by supporters of the opposition. Gbagbo had only dissolved the CEI in spring 2010 and replaced it with Youssouf Bakayoko (PDCI party board member and former diplomat at the permanent representations of the United Nations) because he had accused the organization, headed by Robert Mambé , of 430,000 people from the Ouattara supporting north wrongly included in the electoral roll.

    Laurent Gbagbo was sworn in for a second term on December 4, 2010, regardless of the dispute over the result. A few hours later, Alassane Ouattara also took the oath of office as president. On the same day, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro submitted his resignation and declared his support for Ouattara.

    International reactions

    The decision of the Constitutional Council was criticized internationally. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Gbagbo to admit defeat. The African Union was “deeply concerned” about developments in the country. On Friday, December 3rd, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated Ouattara on their election victory and declared that they consider him the election winner and called on Gbagbo to recognize the election commission's result. The European Union and other countries followed this position.

    Statements by the French head of state in particular are received critically, especially by supporters of Gbagbo, since Sarkozy, as the mayor of Neuilly at the time, trusted Dominique Novion and Alassane Ouattara in the Paris suburb in 1990 and was the guest of honor at their party. Daughters of the Bouygues and Bolloré groups are the largest companies in the Ivory Coast, while the CEOs Martin Bouygues and Vincent Bolloré maintain good personal relationships with the French President. Under Ouattara, who became Prime Minister in 1990, the railways, water and electricity supplies were privatized and bought by French corporations. A contribution to the destabilization of the Ivory Coast is attributed to these corporations.

    On December 8th, the UN Security Council called on all parties involved to recognize the election results announced by the election commission.

    Web links

     Wikinews: Ivory Coast: Opposition warns of civil war  - News
     Wikinews: Ivory Coast: People are fleeing threatening violence  - news

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ a b Spiegel Online: Ivory Coast has two presidents, December 4, 2010.
    2. ↑ Comment Obtenir l'organization d'une Audience Foraine. Le Rassemblement Des Républicains de Cte ​​d'Ivoire, archived from the original on October 19, 2007 ; accessed on February 10, 2014 (French).
    3. ↑ Current President and Former PM Leading Ivory Coast Vote, November 2, 2010 at: voanews.com.
    4. ^ Resolution 1942. (pdf) In: Website of the United Nations - German Translation Service. September 29, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2012 .
    5. ↑ Commission électorale indépendante (Côte d'Ivoire), List électorale définitive, CEI, 2009 Voici la décision du Conseil Constitutionnel qui arrête la liste des candidats. November 3, 2010.
    6. ↑ a b Dominic Johnson : Ivorian Hour of Truth. In: taz. November 4, 2010, p. 10.
    7. ↑ Presidential election Ivory Coast (V): Election day quiet - Election results: All 3 tw 25% - 40% - Présidentielle en Côte d'Ivoire (V): journée du vote, results: 2ieme tour probab ... ( Memento from November 4, 2010 on the Internet Archives )
    8. ^ Ivory Coast Set for Presidential Election Run-Off. News from the BBC's Africa section on November 4, 2010.
    9. ↑ ceici.org: Le Conseil Constitutionnel confirme les résultats de la CEI | Commission Electorale Indépendante de Côte d'Ivoire (CEI), accessed January 9, 2011.
    10. ↑ Euronews: Ivory Coast presidential election, November 27, 2010.
    11. ^ Spiegel Online: One dead in a dispute before the runoff election, November 25, 2010.
    12. ↑ Dominic Johnson: Outbreak of violence in the runoff election. In: taz. November 29, 2010, accessed December 7, 2010 .
    13. ↑ Election Commission declares Ouattara the winner. FAZ, December 3, 2010, accessed on December 22, 2010 .
    14. ↑ a b Article of the Frankfurter Rundschau: Attack on the opposition candidate
    15. ↑ UN stand up to Gbagbo. FAZ, December 19, 2010, accessed on December 22, 2010 .
    16. ↑ Der Standard: Electoral Commission: Opposition candidate wins presidential election, December 2, 2010.
    17. ^ A b Présidentielle ivoirienne: Paul Yao N'Dré invalide les résultats provisoires, l'ONU bull market le ton. In: Jeune Afrique. December 2, 2010, accessed January 7, 2011 (French).
    18. ↑ David Lewis, Tim Cocks: Ivory Coast Poll Winner Named, Army Seals Borders. In: Reuters . December 2, 2010, accessed January 8, 2011 .
    19. ↑ Quattara's election victory revoked. In: ORF. December 3, 2010, accessed December 3, 2010 .
    20. ↑ Young-Jin Choi (UNOCI): Statement on the Certification of the Result of the Second Round of the Presidential Election Held on November 28, 2010. Abidjan, December 3, 2010. PDF (English), 14 kB, accessed on January 9 2011.
    21. ↑ Konrad Adenauer Foundation: "Is Côte d'Ivoire plunging into a political crisis again?"
    22. ↑ Jens Hettmann, representative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Abidjan, December 29, 2010.
    23. ↑ a b BBC News: Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Sworn in Amid Election Row, December 4, 2010.
    24. ↑ tagesschau.de, ( Memento from December 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on December 5, 2010.
    25. ↑ Thomas Scheen: Countless old accounts. FAZ, December 23, 2010, accessed on March 4, 2015 .
    26. ↑ Yves Ekoue ®Amaizo: France and the crisis in the Ivory Coast. Le Monde diplomatique, January 17, 2003, accessed January 9, 2011 .
    27. ↑ UN Security Council intervenes in Ivory Coast crisis. In: ORF. December 9, 2010, accessed December 9, 2010 .