The political framework of the Ivory Coast

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Alassane Ouattara (since 4 December 2010)
Prime Minister: Robert Beugré Mambé (since 16 October 2023)
Next Election Dates: Presidential: October 2025
Senate: September 2028
National Assembly: March 2026
Main Political Parties: There are many legal political parties in the Ivory Coast, but very few have secured national support. The Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) currently holds more than half of parliamentary seats. The main political parties are:

- Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP): party to the ruling coalition
- Democratic Party of Ivory Coast-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA): centre-right, the oldest political party, advocates democratic values. It is the main opposition party
- African Peoples' Party - Ivory Coast (PPA-CI): left-wing

Other parties include:

- Ivorian Popular Front (FPI)
- Liberty and Democracy for the Republic (LIDER)
- Movement of Forces of the Future (MFA)
- Pan-African Congress for People's Justice and Equality (COJEP)
- Rally of the Republicans (RDR)
- Together for Democracy and Sovereignty (EDS)
- Together to Build (UDPCI, FPI, and allies)
- Union for Cote d'Ivoire (UPCI)
- Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d'Ivoire (UDPCI).
Executive Power: The President, elected for five years by universal suffrage, enjoys most of the executive powers which include implementation of the law in the country and running the day-to-day affairs. The Prime Minister is the Head of Government and is appointed by the President to serve a term of five years. The Prime Minister works under the President. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) is also appointed by the President.
The new Constitution of 2016 provides for the creation of a new vice-presidential position.
Legislative Power: Until the end of 2016 and the approval of a new Constitution, the legislative power in Côte d'Ivoire was unicameral. The parliament, called the National Assembly, consisted of 255 seats. Its members were elected in single or multi-member district elections by direct universal suffrage for five years. Since April 2018, the legislature has been bicameral with the creation of a Senate, whose 99 members are elected for five years. They are two-thirds elected by direct universal suffrage, while the president appoints the remaining third "among the former presidents of institutions, former prime ministers and national personalities and skills". The conditions for revision of the Constitution will be facilitated while the House of Kings and Traditional Chiefs will be constitutionalized.
Ivorian citizens enjoy very limited political rights. The president can dissolve parliament or veto its provisions.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 66/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Partly Free
Political Freedom:: 5/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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