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The 1990 Elections in Côte d’Ivoire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2021
Extract
Paraphrasing Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian politician Camille Aliali once said, “Democracy is a system of government for virtuous people. It seldom works even in mature countries. We must be realistic. Our people are ignorant of the problems we face. They cannot be left to choose the solutions,....” In 1990, the president and his close associates changed their minds. On May 3, 1990, the president of Côte d’Ivoire announced the legalization of opposition parties and the intent to hold multi-party elections. On October 28, Ivoirians voted in their first multi-candidate presidential election, which pitted the eighty-five year old Houphouët against long-standing critic and candidate of the “democratic left” coalition, Laurent Gbagbo.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © African Studies Association 1991
Footnotes
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Jennifer A. Widner is Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University. She is author of From Haramabee! to Nyayo!: The Rise of A Party-State in Kenya, forthcoming from the University of California Press. She has also written on the politics of the informal sector. She is currently working on a second book about changing patterns of political behavior among African farmers, based on studies completed in Côle d’Ivoire.
References
Notes
1. Camille Aliali as quoted in French, Howard, “One-Party State at a Crossroads,” Africa Report, July-August 1985, p. 16 Google Scholar.
2. Front Populaire Ivoirien, Propositions Pour Gouverner La Côte d’Ivoire, Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, 1987.