The Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally (french: Parti Démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire — Rassemblement Démocratique Africain;

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

PDCI-RDA) is a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

History

Founded during the colonial era in 1946, as an outgrowth of the African Agricultural Union, it became the only legal party in the country upon independence in 1960. For the next 30 years, the PDCI and the government were effectively one. Every five years, its founder and leader,

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Ivory Coast, serving from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he wo ...

, was automatically elected to a five-year term as president of the republic and confirmed in office via a referendum. At the same time, a single list of PDCI candidates was returned to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. All adult Ivorians were required to be members of the party, which was considered the primary intermediary between the government and the people. Even after opposition parties were legalised in 1990, the PDCI continued to dominate Ivorian politics. At the 1990 elections, Houphouët-Boigny was reelected with an implausible 81 percent of the vote, and the party won all but 12 seats in the legislature. Houphouët-Boigny led the party from its formation until his death in 1993. A year later, acting president of the republic

Henri Konan Bédié Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

became the party's second leader. He served out Houphouët-Boigny's seventh term, and was elected in his own right in 1995 with over 96 percent of the vote; the opposition parties had boycotted the election in protest of new eligibility requirements that they deemed unfair. The party lost power when Bédié was ousted in a December 1999 coup. The PDCI announced in early 2000 that it would hold a congress to choose new leadership, and Bédié denounced this as a " putsch"; the party decided to retain Bédié in the leadership, however. In August, Bédié and four other PDCI members registered as candidates in the October 2000 presidential election;"COTE D'IVOIRE: Nineteen register as presidential candidates"
IRIN, August 18, 2000. shortly afterward,

Emile Constant Bombet Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

, who had served as Interior Minister under Bédié, defeated Bédié for the PDCI presidential nomination. Bombet and Bédié were both barred from running by the Constitutional Court in early October, and on October 10 Bédié called for a boycott of the election. Unlike many former single parties in Africa, the PDCI has made a good account of itself since losing power. In the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 10 December 2000 and 14 January 2001, the party won 94 out of 225 seats. On 18 May 2005, the PDCI and the

Rally of the Republicans The Rally of the Republicans (french: Rassemblement des Républicains; abbreviated RDR) is a liberal party in Ivory Coast (). The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory C ...

(RDR), despite a history of hostility towards one another (the RDR had been formed as a liberal splinter from the PDCI in 1994), signed an agreement to form a coalition, the

Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (french: Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix, RHDP) is a political party in Ivory Coast. History The RHDP was established as a political alliance on 18 May 2005, se ...

, along with two smaller parties, the

Union for Democracy and Peace in Ivory Coast The Union for Democracy and Peace in Ivory Coast (french: Union pour la démocratie et la paix en Côte d'Ivoire; UDPCI) is a political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular coun ...

(UDPCI) and the

Movement of the Forces of the Future The Movement of the Forces of the Future (french: Mouvement des Forces d'Avenir, MFA) is a political party in Côte d'Ivoire. The MFA was founded by Innocent Anaky in December 1992. In the Ivorian parliamentary election, 2000, parliamentary electi ...

(MFA), ahead of the presidential election then planned for October 2005. This election was delayed several times, finally held in 2010. By that time, the two parties had resumed competing against each other. At the 11 December 2011 parliamentary election, the PDCI remained the principal opposition party, with 76 seats. At the 2016 parliamentary election, the

(composed of the RDR, the PDCI and some minor parties) won a strong majority at the National Assembly.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

References

External links