Ruling party clinches majority in Ivory Coast parliament

President Alassane Ouattara’s Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace won 197 of the 255 National Assembly seats, official results show

The ruling party in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) has secured an outright majority in legislative elections held on December 27, just weeks after its leader, Alassane Ouattara, was sworn into office for a fourth term following a disputed presidential vote.

The Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) won 197 of the 255 National Assembly seats, according to results released by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on Monday.

The RHDP’s main rival, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), led by former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, claimed 32 seats. Independent candidates won 23 seats, with three other smaller parties winning one each. CEI reported a 35.04% voter turnout.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo’s African People’s Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), which previously held 18 parliamentary seats, boycotted the vote, citing concerns about the alleged lack of conditions for free, fair, and credible elections.

READ MORE: African leader secures fourth term

Incumbent President Ouattara won a landslide victory with 89.77% in an October 25 election that the West African country’s opposition coalition, the Common Front, described as “a civilian coup d’état.” The presidential election was clouded by violent protests against the disqualification of prominent opposition figures, including former President Gbagbo and Thiam. Gbagbo was barred from running for president due to prior convictions, while Thiam was removed from the electoral roll for holding French citizenship.

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Ouattara, 83, has been in power since 2011, when he assumed the presidency after Gbagbo was arrested for refusing to accept defeat in the 2010 election. He was originally limited to two terms, but constitutional changes in 2016 reset the presidential term count, allowing him to run again.

In a statement following his inauguration for a fourth term on December 8, Ouattara said Ivory Coast nationals made a “sovereign choice” by voting for him again and that it showed their commitment to “democracy, to stability, to peace, for which so many efforts have been made since 2011.”

On Saturday, Ouattara urged his supporters to “massively” vote for the “establishment of the new National Assembly and the consolidation of democracy” in the world’s leading cocoa-producing country.