(Photo by Cyrille Bah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara strengthened his grip on a third term in office after the ruling RHDP party retained its parliamentary majority in Saturday’s legislative elections.
According to a tally provided by the electoral commission, the RHDP party secured a significant victory winning 137 out of 254 seats while an opposition coalition came second with 50 seats.
The opposition coalition, comprising former president Henri Konan Bedie’s Democratic Party of Ivory Coast and a party aligned to former President Laurent Gbagbo, came together in an attempt to prevent the ruling RHDP party from “consolidating absolute power.”
Ouattara, after voting, said the fact that all major political parties participated in the election for the first time in more than two decades “confirms the democratic momentum” in the West African nation, which is the world’s largest cocoa grower.
Côte d’Ivoire’s National Assembly has 255 seats; however, balloting in one department was postponed due to the death of one of the candidates.
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