APA-Abidjan (Ivory Coast) These coupled elections, which are crucial for the political parties in Ivory Coast, will allow them to gauge their electoral weight before the 2025 presidential elections.
On the proposal of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), a decree was adopted by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday “convening the electoral colleges on September 2, 2023 for the election of regional and municipal councillors.”
Polling stations will open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. (GMT, local time), said Ivorian government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly at the end of the cabinet meeting.
The elections are expected to be epic for the various political parties.
Since registering on the electoral list, candidates from several major parties have not yet decided their fate in terms of their party’s nomination. At the opposition level, an expected arbitration by the allied parties has been delayed.
Former president Henri Konan Bédié, who heads the ex ruling Democratic Party of Cote d’Ivoire, met on Thursday in Daoukro (East) with all the potential candidates for these elections in order to outline the criteria for the selection of candidates and the stakes of these elections.
Cote d’Ivoire’s National Assembly Speaker Adama Bictogo, a member of the ruling RHDP party, is a candidate in the municipal elections in Yopougon, a popular city west of Abidjan considered a stronghold of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
AP/lb/as/APA