In the wake of the dispute over an alleged voter list fraud opposing the presidential camp and opposition parties, President Gbagbo announced, on Friday 12nd February, in a speech broadcast on the national television, the dissolution of the government and the electoral commission (CEI), on the basis of the provisions of Article 48 of the Ivorian Constitution. How was the atmosphere in Abidjan following this unexpected decision? How did opposition leaders respond to this unexpected decision?

On Friday 12nd, at 4pm, I was coming out Kenya Airways office in Plateau District, at the heart of Abidjan, when my phone rang. ‘Where are you Selay? A member of the president cabinet just rang me and told me that the President will dissolve the government and the electoral commission this night… I am not saying there will be more violence but one can imagine what will happen. Have you already booked your ticket for South Africa? Please don’t stay out.’ I hardly recognized, on the phone, the voice of Kouame Jacques, a long date friend, who hanged up before I could answer.

I put off my sun glasses and my earphones and only then I noticed that taxis and buses were driving so fast and I also noticed that the normally bustling streets were being deserted and that were no streets vendors on roadside while Plateau residents were rushing indoors.

Word of mouth is a so powerful means of communication in Abidjan as in many African capital cities. I easily guessed that they have heard about this dissolution this is why they are leaving earlier, anticipating trouble. In Abidjan, rumors are to be taken seriously! I rushed to the parking and drove back home very fast.

PRESIDENT GBAGBO’S SPEECH
President Gbagbo delivered a spicy speech during the 8:00 pm News and admitted that "the electoral process has broken down". So he has decided to dissolve the government and the CEI, the electoral commission. He declared that his decision was meant to "take away all obstacles from the peaceful process and allow Ivory Coast to hold proper elections in total confidence".

He dissolved the CEI and the government on behalf of Article 48 of the Constitution, as he asserted. He kept Soro Guillaume as Prime Minister and asked him to pick a new government on Monday 15th February and set a new electoral body before the end of the week.

WHAT GOES IN ARTICLE 48?
The Article 48 provides that in a case "where there is a serious and immediate threat to national institutions, the independence of the nation, integrity of territorial boundaries or the country's execution of international commitments, the Republic's president should take exceptional measures."

According to Pr Francis Wodie, Professor of Law at Abidjan Cocody University and President of PIT, an Ivorian opposition party, and to the view of many political analysts, Gbagbo misused Article 48 in order to get full control of the election and to disqualify opposition parties whose dignitaries are members of the reconciliation government.

‘No one can deny the fact that we’ve been knowing a stand-off of the electoral process since the debate over electoral fraud started but this cannot justify the use of Article 48 […] its use does not respect basic democratic requirements.’ Said Leon Gadou, a 27 years old Law student, I met early on Saturday morning while I was out to pick up opinions of Ivorians on this unexpected decision. ‘We have made so much effort to reach this state and now we should resume the electoral process… I no longer trust the President, if they were going to have elections, they would have had them already’ he added, with a face expressing despair.

I walked miles away far from my living place to catch the mood in the streets. The traditionally busy square ‘II Plateaux Mobil’ in Cocody District was unrecognizable! Very few local taxis called ‘Woro-woro’ were parked on the roadside hailing clients with shopping bags walking faster. After having spent almost 3 hours outside, I decided to return to home. On my way, I received a phone call from CSCI, the convention of the Ivorian civil society, to attend the meeting they were organizing in the afternoon.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CEI
Differences have never disappeared over an election to end the crisis in Ivory Coast even after Soro Guillaume, the leader of rebel forces which control the north of the country was named Prime Minister after a peace accord was signed in Ougadougou between he and President Gbagbo.

As a result the polls have been repeatedly postponed since 2005, when Gbagbo's tenure expired. The provision of the final voter list also fell in an impasse when the debate over alleged voter list fraud came to its climax point.
While the presidential camp accused Beugre Mambe, head of CEI, the electoral body, of wrongly putting nearly a half-million illegitimate voters on the list in favor of the opposition, the opposition charged FPI, the ruling party, with a "delay tactic" to abort the election penciled for late February and early March 2010.

The presidential camp had demanded the resignation of Mambe, the President of CEI. But, with the backing from the opposition, Mambe had stood against the pressure, vowing not to step down.

Amid the stand-off of electoral process, bloody confrontations and destruction happened in western and northern towns; in Man and Korhogo, courts have been destroyed by angered crowd suspecting the Head of these courts to withdraw some names from the electoral list. The situation grew worse when Mambe, the CEI chief and Desire Tagro, the Interior Ministry took the center stage in the crisis.
The leaders of the main opposition parties and representatives of the civil society reacted in different ways to this decision. Opposition parties disowned the President while civil society called for a new political order.

OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY RESPONSE TO THE DISSOLUTION
In a statement read out by Alphonse Djeje Mady, the Secretary General of PDCI, a main opposition party, leaders of RHDP, the main opposition coalition, proclaim that they ‘no longer recognize Mr Laurent Gbagbo as the Head of state of Ivory Coast’ after he dissolved the government and the electoral commission.

‘We will not recognize the new electoral commission nor the new government’, they added. Moreover, RHDP leader Djedje Madi said the president's dismissal of the government and the CEI was "antidemocratic and anticonstitutional," and tantamount to "a coup d'etat", so the opposition would not participate in forming a new government.

On the other hand, speaking to RFI, the world wide francophone radio, Anne Ouloto, spokeswoman of RDR, another main opposition party, said this decision was a step towards dictatorship and that her party will not let any dictatorship establish itself’. Francois Kablan, the secretary general of PIT, an independent party allied with neither the opposition nor the presidential camp also condemned the decision.

In Saturday afternoon, I attended the meeting organized by the CSCI in their headquarters, in Cocody. On my way, I noticed that the traffic resumed but the atmosphere was still tense.

The Convention of Ivory Coast civil society also joins the trend. Its spokesman, Dr NGouan Patrick read a declaration broadcast on ONUCI FM, the Radio of the United Mission in Ivory Coast and published on www.abidjan.net

I was given a copy of the declaration which can be summarized into three main points: CSCI scares risks of tension and violence and calls political leaders to calm. Beyond, it claims that the new government should have no more than 20 ministers and that the majority of the positions in the new electoral commission should be attributed to members of civil society as it is the case in Ghana, Benin and South Africa to guarantee a fair poll.

I left the conference room just after the speech of Dr NGouan Patrick cause I had to be ready for the airport. When I was packing my luggage, Kouakou Leopold, a close collaborator of Konan Bertin, former President Bedie’s youth wing leader, phoned me to informed me how the riot police tear-gassed them when, few hours earlier, they were trying to gather in the streets to protest the dismissal.

A friend dropped me at the airport, in Port Bouet District, for checking procedures. On our way to the Airport Felix Houphouet Boigny, named after the first President of the country, acknowledged for his peaceful and integrationist politics, I had the nostalgia of the country that was once the envy of its neighbors, prospering while many of them stagnated or went to war.

Ends