Electoral officials in Côte d’Ivoire have announced voter identification will be completed by end of February, but political clashes and financial problems continue to derail the process, making the timing of long-overdue presidential elections as uncertain as ever.
Defining who is an Ivoirian eligible to vote lies at the heart of socio-economic and political unrest in the country, which has been split in two since soldiers – mainly from northern ethnic groups – mounted a rebellion in 2002.
“The independent electoral commission (CEI) will deploy the resources necessary to achieve the identification and electoral list by end of February at the latest,” CEI president Robert Mambé announced on 19 January. He said this included registering Ivoirians living abroad.
But even tackling the job within Côte d’Ivoire’s borders has proven difficult.
Delays are often put down to technical and logistical hitches but given the weight of the identity question observers say that more than logistical challenges are at work.
“The identity problem in Côte d’Ivoire goes very deep,” Daniel Balint-Kurti, associate fellow at London think-tank Chatham House, told IRIN. “It’s all about changing the way people think.”
This week the Ivoirian press is full of reports about accusations of fraud in the registration process. And in some regions young militants of the ruling Front Populaire Ivoirian (FPI) party continue to attack registration facilities, charging that foreigners are presenting themselves as Ivoirians.
“We must stop the identification operation, otherwise things will spiral out of control,” Raymond Abouo, member of the FPI, said at a recent meeting in Agboville, south of the commercial capital Abidjan. “The rate of participation by Ivoirians is weak, while foreigners are registering in force.”
But opposition parties say FPI members simply want to foil the electoral process because they fear a defeat.
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative (SRSG) in Côte d’Ivoire, Choi Young-jin, told the Security Council on 21 January that settling the national identity question “would be a historic and strategic advance”.
It would, and that is what is making it so tough, say observers.
Balint-Kurti said a successful identification process would require the ruling party to put a sound, proper electoral process above an FPI victory.
“The ruling party would have to show it wants to take a change in direction on identification,” he said. “The problem is that in doing so the ruling party would stand a lot less chance of winning elections. And [opposition candidate Alassane] Ouattara would stand a lot better chance of winning.”
Ouattara’s support base is among northern ethnic groups, and FPI militants often dismiss these Ivoirians as nationals of neighbouring Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The question of identity is important not just at the national political level, Balint-Kurti said. “There are huge immigrant [and non-indigenous] communities and there are disputes over the land [they have long farmed]. If these communities have a government in place that is sympathetic it would be a lot more difficult for locals to throw them off the land.”
A leading coffee and cocoa producer, Côte d’Ivoire has long been plagued by land disputes.
Millions, but no pay
Beyond the political clashes, the electoral process continues to be held up by electoral worker strikes.
Despite the disbursement of some 20 billion CFA francs (US$39.5 million) for materials, training and other electoral operations, some registration workers complain they are not being paid.
At the same time the CEI’s Mambé declared the end-February deadline, electoral agents in many towns were on strike.
Presidential elections have been set and canceled several times in the years since the rebellion; the last missed deadline was 30 November 2008. Identification is just one of several required steps.
Given a recent agreement among Côte d’Ivoire’s political actors to achieve disarmament of rebels and militias two months before elections, “managing the electoral timetable appears even more challenging”, SRSG Choi said in his recent briefing to the Security Council.
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Defining who is an Ivoirian eligible to vote lies at the heart of socio-economic and political unrest in the country, which has been split in two since soldiers – mainly from northern ethnic groups – mounted a rebellion in 2002.
“The independent electoral commission (CEI) will deploy the resources necessary to achieve the identification and electoral list by end of February at the latest,” CEI president Robert Mambé announced on 19 January. He said this included registering Ivoirians living abroad.
But even tackling the job within Côte d’Ivoire’s borders has proven difficult.
Delays are often put down to technical and logistical hitches but given the weight of the identity question observers say that more than logistical challenges are at work.
“The identity problem in Côte d’Ivoire goes very deep,” Daniel Balint-Kurti, associate fellow at London think-tank Chatham House, told IRIN. “It’s all about changing the way people think.”
This week the Ivoirian press is full of reports about accusations of fraud in the registration process. And in some regions young militants of the ruling Front Populaire Ivoirian (FPI) party continue to attack registration facilities, charging that foreigners are presenting themselves as Ivoirians.
“We must stop the identification operation, otherwise things will spiral out of control,” Raymond Abouo, member of the FPI, said at a recent meeting in Agboville, south of the commercial capital Abidjan. “The rate of participation by Ivoirians is weak, while foreigners are registering in force.”
But opposition parties say FPI members simply want to foil the electoral process because they fear a defeat.
 ...The identity problem in Côte d'Ivoire goes very deep. It's all about changing the way people think... |
It would, and that is what is making it so tough, say observers.
Balint-Kurti said a successful identification process would require the ruling party to put a sound, proper electoral process above an FPI victory.
“The ruling party would have to show it wants to take a change in direction on identification,” he said. “The problem is that in doing so the ruling party would stand a lot less chance of winning elections. And [opposition candidate Alassane] Ouattara would stand a lot better chance of winning.”
Ouattara’s support base is among northern ethnic groups, and FPI militants often dismiss these Ivoirians as nationals of neighbouring Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The question of identity is important not just at the national political level, Balint-Kurti said. “There are huge immigrant [and non-indigenous] communities and there are disputes over the land [they have long farmed]. If these communities have a government in place that is sympathetic it would be a lot more difficult for locals to throw them off the land.”
A leading coffee and cocoa producer, Côte d’Ivoire has long been plagued by land disputes.
Millions, but no pay
Beyond the political clashes, the electoral process continues to be held up by electoral worker strikes.
Despite the disbursement of some 20 billion CFA francs (US$39.5 million) for materials, training and other electoral operations, some registration workers complain they are not being paid.
At the same time the CEI’s Mambé declared the end-February deadline, electoral agents in many towns were on strike.
Presidential elections have been set and canceled several times in the years since the rebellion; the last missed deadline was 30 November 2008. Identification is just one of several required steps.
Given a recent agreement among Côte d’Ivoire’s political actors to achieve disarmament of rebels and militias two months before elections, “managing the electoral timetable appears even more challenging”, SRSG Choi said in his recent briefing to the Security Council.
aa/np/aj
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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