Côte d’Ivoire’s Predictable Post-Election Impasse

Côte d’Ivoire’s Predictable Post-Election Impasse

Côte d'Ivoire's President Laurent Gbagbo used a prescient campaign slogan in the run-up to the country's Nov. 28 presidential run-off election: "We win, or we win."

Despite regional and international recognition of Alassane Dramane Ouattara as the winner of the poll, Gbagbo wrapped himself in the Ivorian tricolor for an inauguration ceremony on Dec. 4, warning darkly against any threat to Ivorian sovereignty.

The move followed a decision by the country's Constitutional Court, stacked with Gbagbo cronies and acolytes, to void the Independent Electoral Commission's results giving Ouattara 54 percent of the votes, saying that the commission's delay in announcing the results made them constitutionally invalid. Nowhere in its decision, however, did the court acknowledge that the delays were due to Gbagbo loyalists storming the commission's press conference and tearing up the results to keep them from being announced.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to WPR’s fully searchable library of 16,000+ articles
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday
  • Weekly in-depth reports on important issues and countries
  • Daily links to must-read news and analysis from top sources around the globe, curated by our keen-eyed team of editors
  • The Weekly Wrap-Up email, with highlights of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review