This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0000845828 Reproduction Date:
The Rally of the Republicans (French: Rassemblement des Républicains, RDR) is a liberal party in Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory Coast.
The RDR, which has most of its support in the north of the country, was formed as a split from the then-ruling party, the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), in mid-1994. Djéni Kobina became the new party's Secretary-General. The RDR sought for Ouattara, who had served as Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993, to become its candidate in the 1995 presidential election. However, amendments to the electoral code required presidential candidates to have lived in the country for five years and to have been born of Ivorian parents. It was thought that these provisions were specifically intended to keep Ouattara out of the running; he had been deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund for almost five years and his father's family has roots in Burkina Faso. For this reason the RDR boycotted the election.[5]
The RDR held its first ordinary congress on July 2–3, 1995,[6] at which Ouattara was nominated as its presidential candidate.[7] Following Kobina's death, the party held its first extraordinary congress in January 1999 to elect a new Secretary-General.[6] Ouattara was elected President of the RDR on August 1, 1999[8] at the second extraordinary congress of the party,[6] and he was designated as the party's candidate for the next presidential election.[9]
Ouattara said that he was eligible to stand in this election, scheduled to be held in 2000, pointing to documents which he said demonstrated that he and his parents were of Ivorian birth, as required by the electoral code. He was accused of forging these papers, however, and an investigation was begun.[10][11] His nationality certificate was annulled by a court in October 1999[12] and an arrest warrant for Ouattara was issued a month later,[13] although he was in France at the time.[14]
The RDR demonstrated in favor of Ouattara's candidacy; a demonstration in Abidjan reported as being 10,000 strong was held on September 27.[15] A number of RDR leaders, including the party's Secretary-General, Henri Konan Bédié rejected the demands, they seized power on December 24 and promptly released the RDR prisoners.[17] Ouattara returned to Ivory Coast on December 29, hailing Bédié's ouster as a "revolution supported by all the Ivorian people".[14]
Despite Ouattara's support for the coup, his candidacy in the October 2000 presidential election was rejected by the Supreme Court, on the same nationality basis that was used to prevent his candidacy during Bédié's presidency. As a result, the RDR decided to boycott the presidential election.[18] It also boycotted the parliamentary election held on 10 December 2000 and 14 January 2001, but nevertheless won five out of 225 seats. The RDR is a full member of the Liberal International, which it joined at the Liberal International's Dakar Congress in 2003.[19]
On May 18, 2005, despite their history of hostility, the RDR and the PDCI signed an agreement to form a coalition, the Rally of Houphouetistes for Democracy and Peace, along with two smaller parties, the Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d'Ivoire (UDPCI) and the Movement of the Forces of the Future (MFA), ahead of the presidential election then planned for October 2005.[20][21] This election was delayed and is now planned to be held by June 2008.
Ouattara was designated as the RDR's presidential candidate at its Second Ordinary Congress on February 1–3, 2008 and also re-elected as President of the RDR for another five years. At the congress, he invited the former rebel Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire to team up with the RDR for the election.[22]
In the first round of the 2010 presidential elections, Ouattara finished second, behind incumbent Laurent Gbagbo. In the runoff, Ouattara was announced as finishing first with 54 percent of the vote—a result recognized by virtually the entire international community. Gbagbo, however, refused to step down, touching off a major political crisis that only ended with Gbagbo's capture on 11 April 2011.
Aya Virginie Toure was elected President of the Rally of Republican Women with a majority vote of 59%.[23]
National groups:
* observer
*associate member **observer
Liberalism, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, Free Democratic Party (Germany), Democratic Progressive Party
Abidjan, French language, African Union, Yamoussoukro, Burkina Faso
Liberalism, Hamburg, Theodor Heuss, Guido Westerwelle, Bundestag
Sinn Féin, Éamon de Valera, Bertie Ahern, Dáil Éireann, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
European parliament, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, Liberalism, Democrats 66, Mark Rutte
Ivory Coast, Departments of Ivory Coast, Regions of Ivory Coast, Foreign relations of Ivory Coast, Politics
Canada, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, United Nations
Liberalism, Democratic Alliance (South Africa), Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, Free Democratic Party (Germany), Fianna Fáil
Ivory Coast, Liberia, United Nations, Ghana, France
Politics, Liberalism, Conservatism, Pan-Africanism, Political spectrum