Ivorian parliamentary election, 2016

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Ivory Coast

Parliamentary elections were held in Ivory Coast on 18 December 2016. [1] The new constitution, which was approved in a referendum in October, reduced the term for the 255 members of the National Assembly from five to four years.

Ivory Coast State in West Africa

Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country located on the south coast of West Africa. Ivory Coast's political capital is Yamoussoukro in the centre of the country, while its economic capital and largest city is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea and Liberia to the west, Burkina Faso and Mali to the north, Ghana to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.

Constitution of Ivory Coast National constitution

The Constitution of Ivory Coast was approved by referendum on October 30, 2016 and officially adopted on November 8, 2016.

Contents

The presidential coalition, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (composed of the Rally of the Republicans, the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire – African Democratic Rally and some minor parties) won more than the half the seats in the National Assembly.

Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace political alliance

The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace is a political alliance in Ivory Coast.

Rally of the Republicans

The Rally of the Republicans is a liberal party in Ivory Coast. The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory Coast.

Democratic Party of Côte dIvoire – African Democratic Rally political party

The Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire — African Democratic Rally is a political party in Côte d'Ivoire.

Electoral system

The 255 members of the National Assembly were elected from 169 single-member constituencies and 36 multi-member constituencies with between two and six seats. [2] [3] In single-member constituencies voters cast a vote for one candidate who is elected by first-past-the-post voting; whereas in multi-member constituencies candidates were elected by plurality-at-large voting, where voters cast a single vote for a closed list, with the list receiving the most votes winning all seats in the constituency. [4]

National Assembly (Ivory Coast) National Assembly of Ivory Coast

The National Assembly is lower house of the Parliament of Ivory Coast since November 2016. From 1960 to 2016, The National Assembly was Ivory Coast's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial period, the first National Assembly was constituted on 27 November 1960 with 70 elected members (députés) in accordance with the Constitution of 31 October 1960, which created the First Republic.

First-past-the-post voting voting system in which voters select one candidate, and the candidate who receives more votes than any other candidate wins

A first-past-the-post electoral system is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. This is sometimes described as winner takes all. First-past-the-post voting is a plurality voting method. FPTP is a common, but not universal, feature of electoral systems with single-member electoral divisions, and is practiced in close to one third of countries. Notable examples include Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as most of their current or former colonies and protectorates.

Plurality-at-large voting, also known as block vote or multiple non-transferable vote (MNTV), is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election. Multiple winners are elected simultaneously to serve the district. Block voting is not a system for obtaining proportional representation; instead the usual result is that where the candidates divide into definitive parties the most popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected, resulting in a landslide.

Campaign

A total of 1,336 candidates contested the elections, 597 representing 38 political parties and 739 as independents. [5] The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace had the most candidates (248), with the Ivorian Popular Front (which had boycotted the 2011 elections) the only other party to run candidates in more than half of constituencies, having nominated 187 candidates. [5] Sixteen parties contested only one seat. [5]

Ivorian Popular Front political party

The Ivorian Popular Front is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic political party in Ivory Coast.

Results

In constituency 34 there was a tie between two candidates, with the independent candidate Léonard Guéi Desseloue and Marius Sarr Bohe (RHDP) both receiving 1,231 votes. A second round of voting took place within 15 days. [6] Léonard Sahé won the last constituency achieving 52.69% while Marius Sarr got 46.31%. [7]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace 1,019,05750.26167–40
Ivorian Popular Front 118,1305.833New
Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d'Ivoire 60,5662.996–1
Union for Ivory Coast 20,8061.033+2
Liberty and Democracy for the Republic3,0500.1500
Rally for Peace, Progress and Sharing2,6280.130New
United Cape for Democracy and Development2,5130.1200
Alliance of Democratic Forces 2,3080.110New
Union of Democrats for Progress2,2350.110New
Democratic and Civic Union2,2070.1100
Democratic and Social Movement1,5760.0800
Renewal for Peace and Agreement1,3030.060New
Collective of Democratic Ivorians1,1360.060New
Congress for Ivorian Renewal1,1010.050New
Union for Total Democracy in Ivory Coast9840.0500
People's Party of Social Democrats8610.040New
Republican Union for Democracy8480.040New
Union for Progress6480.030New
Pan-African Democratic Rally6440.0300
National Democratic and Reformist Front5960.030New
Ivorian Party of Greens4660.020New
National Civic Movement4440.0200
Congress of People for Development and Freedom4400.020New
Union for National Progress3190.0200
People's Socialist Union 3060.0200
Democracy for Freedom and Cohesion2330.010New
Ivorian Party of Rising to Challenges2010.0100
Party of Unity and Progress of Ivory Coast1840.010New
Revolutionary Communist Party of Côte d'Ivoire 1780.0100
Congress for Ivorian Renewal–Panafrican1770.010New
Ivorian Ecological Movement1630.0100
Union of Popular Masses1340.010New
Republican Party of Ivory Coast1060.0100
Union for Development and Freedoms1010.000New
National Alliance of Ivory Coast930.000New
Ivorian Party of Farmers400.0000
Progressive Movement of Ivory Coast300.000New
La Renaissance200.0000
Independents 780,62938.5076+41
Invalid/blank votes110,575
Total2,138,0361002550
Registered voters/turnout6,268,11334.11
Source: CEI

Aftermath

When the National Assembly began meeting for the new parliamentary term, Guillaume Soro, an RHDP deputy, was re-elected as President of the National Assembly on 9 January 2017. He received 230 votes from the 252 deputies present; Evariste Méambly, an independent deputy, received 12 votes, and there were 10 spoilt votes. [8]

Guillaume Soro Ivorian politician

Guillaume Kigbafori Soro is an Ivorian politician who was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from April 2007 to March 2012. Prior to his service as Prime Minister, Soro led the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire, and later the New Forces as its Secretary-General. Since March 2012, Soro has been President of the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire.

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