Briefing: winning coalition, sore loser: Côte d'Ivoire's 2010 presidential elections

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Periodical article

Title:	Briefing: winning coalition, sore loser: Côte d'Ivoire's 2010 presidential elections
Author:	Bassett, Thomas J.
Year:	2011
Periodical:	African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society (ISSN 1468-2621)
Volume:	110
Issue:	440
Pages:	469-479
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire
Subjects:	presidential elections 2010 ethnicity voting
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41240216
Abstract:	The 2010 presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire were remarkable in many ways: they were certified by the United Nations as being fair and credible; the turnout was extraordinarily high; and the elections showed for the first time that a 'winning coalition of ethnic and regional interests' was possible for an African State in transition to a multi-party system. However, the country's Constitutional Court undermined the democratic process by annulling the vote in thirteen departments and declaring incumbent Laurent Gbagbo the winner. This briefing focuses on the electoral geography of the 2010 presidential contest. It examines the regional pattern of the vote and the relationship between ethnicity and voting behaviour. The results highlight the partial national reach of the winning Rally of the Houphouëtistes for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) coalition amidst entrenched ethnic divisions. The briefing concludes with a critique of the 'constitutional coup' staged by Gbagbo and its ethno-regional character. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]