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Cote d’Ivoire held its first presidential election in 10 years on Oct. 31. Election day was peaceful and voter turnout reached a record high of about 85 percent, according to the election commission. President Laurent Gbabgo will now face former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara in a Nov. 28 run-off as no candidate reached the required 50 percent of the vote.
The election was a historic moment for the West African country. Cote d’Ivoire recently emerged from an armed conflict that began in 2002 and left the nation divided between the rebel-controlled north and government-run south. After repeated postponements and lingering frictions, the election is seen as a step toward unifying the country.
In an effort to help mitigate tensions in the lead-up to the election, NDI worked with political party leaders to bring attention to a code of conduct first signed in 2008, that committed signatories to resolve political and electoral disputes through dialogue and legal means rather than through violence. Signatories agreed to not announce results prior to the Independent Election Commission’s (Commission électorale indépendante – CEI) official announcement and to respect the results. They also agreed to refrain from using race, ethnicity or religion as a campaign issue.
The code was originally signed in 2008 by 43 Ivorian political parties in a high-profile ceremony attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. To reinforce the code’s principles, all 14 presidential candidates, or their designated representatives, signed the code at an event several weeks before the election.
NDI partnered with the CEI to establish code of conduct monitoring committees throughout Cote d’Ivoire. These panels operated in eight cities to monitor adherence to the code’s provisions and address potential conflicts before they escalated.
The president of the election commission, Youssouf Bakayoko, who chaired the event, urged the candidates and their supporters to respect the peace process by honoring the code and promoting non-violence throughout the election period and beyond.
NDI has also partnered with young leaders to defuse election-related conflicts. Prior to the presidential election, the Institute launched youth forums on conflict resolution in the violence prone regions of Abidjan, Bouaké, Man and San-Pédro. During the forums, the young leaders called on all citizens to vote peacefully.
Video of the forums, where young leaders voiced their support for peace and order during elections, was broadcast on national television after the election to encourage citizens to remain calm as they awaited announcement of the results.
Pictured Above: Independent candidate Ahne Jacqueline Oblé, the only woman to run for president, signs the code of conduct with an election commission official looking on.
Published November 3, 2010
