Senatorial elections in Ivory Coast: RHDP wins majority of seats
On September 16, Ivory Coast held its senatorial elections, which saw more than 9,000 electors go to the polls to elect 64 senators, representing nearly two-thirds of the upper house. Unsurprisingly, the ruling party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), emerged victorious in this election.
After the orange wave of the local elections which had been held two weeks previously, the RHDP was already assured of maintaining its majority in the senatorial elections. In fact, it is the regional and municipal councilors who vote to appoint senators. However, during the local elections, the RHDP won 25 regions out of 30 and 123 municipalities out of 199, which guaranteed it a comfortable position for the senatorial elections.
According to the provisional results, the RHDP lists won 56 of the 64 seats to be filled. The Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), which held 15 seats during the previous mandate, only obtained 6 this time, and 2 seats went to independent candidates.
However, this election is not without controversy. The opposition had criticized the organization of the senatorial elections by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) while the electoral disputes concerning the local elections of September 2 had not yet been resolved by the Council of State. Some members of the opposition denounce rushed and illegal elections, questioning the need to re-vote the senatorial elections if the results of the local elections were invalidated.
A major surprise during this election was the defeat of the outgoing president of the Senate, Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio, who lost his senatorial seat. Despite the division of local RHDP elected officials in the Bélier region, they decided not to renew it.
In terms of participation, the participation rate rose to 69%, up 6 points compared to the 2018 senatorial elections. The CEI announced that the elections took place peacefully, despite an incident that occurred in the town of Man.
We now have to wait for the final validation of the results by the Council of State and the designation by the President of the Republic of the remaining senators, who represent a third of the Upper House. With an overwhelming majority in the Senate, the RHDP will continue to assert its dominant position in Ivorian political life.