In Ivory Coast, regional and municipal elections will be held on September 2 ahead of the 2025 presidential polls, a government spokesperson announced on Wednesday.
Five years ago, the main opposition Democratic Party took six of the country’s 31 regions, leaving the ruling RHDP party in charge of 18.
The upcoming elections are seen as a test of the political authority in Ivory Coast, a nation in West Africa that is a regional economic giant and a major exporter of cocoa.
According to government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly, the Independent Election Commission’s proposal led to the September date being imposed by decree.
On a list released by the RHDP, eleven members of the government will run in the regional elections.
In his native region of Me, in the southeast, Prime Minister Patrick Achi will run for re-election as regional council president.
Former president Laurent Gbagbo’s new African Peoples Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), a left-wing pan-African organization, will be making its maiden appearance in the elections.
After being cleared by the International Criminal Court of human rights allegations related to post-election violence in 2011, Gbagbo returned to the Ivory Coast in June 2021.
