Hybrid Political System

The post-independence Ivorian Constitution was modelled closely after France’s V Republic Constitution, with a strong, centralised semi-presidential system. It is a unitary republic with a national government composed of a directly elected President who appoints a Prime Minister to lead a separately elected parliament. Article 7 of the 1960 constitution also allowed for multiparty political competition. However, in practice there was only one legalised political party, the PDCI, to which all adult citizens were required to belong. Until 1980, there was no competition within the party for legislative seats -- a list was drawn up by the central party leaders and approved by the electorate. President Houphouet-Boigny led the country from 1960 until his death in 1993. The first multiparty presidential and legislative elections were held in 1990, resulting in a landslide for Houphouët-Boigny and the PDCI, who captured 164 of 175 seats in parliament. Some observers subsequently called for a change in the electoral system from plural-majoritarian to proportional representation to allow for greater opposition representation, although opposition leaders did not support this idea in the apparently mistaken belief that they could do better under the existing system in the next elections. Three political parties currently hold seats in the National Assembly -- PDCI (149 seats), FPI (13 seats), and RDR (13 seats). The National Assembly faces some of the same challenges cited by political observers of other developing countries, including: a very strong executive, lax rules of procedure, a lack of resources and inefficient committee structures. As in the French system, the President has broad powers to initiate legislation and pass decrees and regulations. These broad powers under a one-party system dominated by the personality of Houphouët-Boigny made the PDCI parliament in effect a rubber-stamp for initiatives emanating from the executive. Furthermore, in June 1998, Houphouët-Boigny’s elected successor, President Henrie Konan Bédié, proposed -- and the PDCI-dominated parliament enacted -- amendments to the Constitution that further increased the power of the executive vis-a- vis the legislature. The amendments propose to do the following: reduce the authority of the Prime Minister; authorise the President to annul elections or postpone announcing election results; extend the presidential term from 5 to 7 years; and mandate the creation of a second legislative chamber (Senate) in which one-third of the members are to be appointed by the President; and provide for the Senate’s president to succeed the President. Domestic and international observers and political party opposition criticised these constitutional amendments, and the opposition parties in parliament boycotted the National Assembly's vote and organized demonstrations. While the Ivorian system is structurally similar to that of the modern French system, there are key checks in practice on the domination of one party in France. For example, in France, there are three major political parties or groups that could reasonably expect to become a governing party via legislative elections. At times, the President from one party must face a Prime Minister from another party, or must face a governing coalition that includes other parties. In addition, the opposition members have official status and coalition member parties are given a proportion of leadership on National Assembly committees and in the Cabinet, and all opposition parties are given committee chairmanships in the Senate. Constitutional amendments require passage by both houses in the same form followed by a public referendum, or in other cases, a three-fifths majority of the National Assembly. These elements require an on-going negotiation process between the executive and various political parties and among the parties represented in the legislature. In the Ivorian context, there hasn’t yet developed an attending political pressure on the ruling party to negotiate with the opposition in parliament in matters of policy formulation. There is also not a strong press or civil society to which opposition members could represent their concerns and call attention to matters of disagreement, which is the way opposition parties often try to affect policy change in parliamentary systems. In December 1998, in an accord between the ruling party and a major opposition party, President Bedie did agree to renounce some of his new constitutional powers, including the power to postpone announcements of election results; the power to annul elections; and the power to appoint one-third of the new Senate.