Cote d’Ivoire: Côte d’Ivoire’s Voter Roll Reaches 8.7 Million Amid Opposition Demands for Revision

Nearly 8.7 million voters are on the provisional electoral roll in Côte d’Ivoire this year, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced on Monday. The IEC officially submitted this list to the political parties. Despite this move, the opposition continues to demand a further revision of the electoral roll before the presidential election on 25 October.

Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, the president of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), said he is conducting a “mid-term review” of the electoral process.

According to data reviewed and corrected by the IEC, there are currently 8.7 million voters on the provisional list, including nearly 769,757 new registrations.

This list for electoral roll is provisional, and from Saturday, Ivorian citizens will be able to file a complaint if they find an inconsistency or error in it.

“The electoral calendar is tight and precise,” the president of the CEI said, according to RFI’s correspondent in the country. “This leaves no room for a new electoral review before the October presidential election.”

Contested figures

The opposition disagrees however.

“The timetable is a bit tight,” according to Kaza Djah, head of the PPA-CI within the IEC.

This activist from former President Laurent Gbagbo’s party believes that the IEC “does not want to organise transparent elections,” and that “the list must be audited to give all stakeholders greater peace of mind.”

The party estimates that there should be more than 12.5 million people on the list, not 8,7 million.

“People want to register. They are the ones who refuse. So, this gives food for thought,” Djah added.

Coalitions in the making

Former President Gbagbo is not on the provisional electoral list, nor is COJEP leader Charles Blé Goudé, as they have both been declared ineligible, following convictions by the Ivorian courts.

On 10 March, 25 political parties formed the Coalition for Peaceful Change was officially launched in Abidjan, bringing together Blé Goudé’s COJEP, Tidjane Thiam’s PDCI, and Pascal Affi N’Guessan’s FPI. Their objective aims to achieve electoral reforms and political dialogue.

The IEC expects to be able to publish the final voters’ list around 20 June.

The current Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, has not officially declared his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election scheduled for October 2025.

But the ruling party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), has shown strong support for his potential fourth-term bid, though the official nomination and acceptance have yet to take place.

Ouattara, 83, was re-elected for a contested third term in 2020.

By RFI website.