Ivory Coast: Ruling coalition crisis

Disagreements and incisive speeches through the media. This is what the pro and anti unified party are doing in Ivory Coast, following the expulsion of 18 elected members of the PDCI’s Executive Board.

The latter are accused of having participated prematurely in the constitution of the unified party RHDP. A decision that divides the supporters of the oldest party in Ivory Coast

“No one can exclude me from the PDCI-RDA. I’m a PDCI-RDA activist. But I’m pro-RHDP. I will never accept the splitting of the PDCI,” said Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, Minister of Animal and Fisheries Resources (expelled from the PDCI-RDA)

Transformation of the ruling coalition into a unified party has been a recurring theme in Ivorian politics over the past decade.

President Alassane Ouattara backs the plan, which has met resistence within the party and also from its allies in the PDC.

Political tensions are rising again before a 2020 election. Constitutional term limits appear to prevent Ouattara from standing for a third term, but he said last month that he is free to run again under a new constitution approved in 2016.

Ivorian politics is historically volatile, marked by conflicts over land and ethnicity.