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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Government: Constitution of 1960 creates
republic with
strong, centralized presidential government, independent
judiciary,
and national legislature. President and 175-member
National
Assembly (Assemblé Nationale) elected by universal
suffrage for
five-year terms. In the late 1980s, all candidates had to
belong to
Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (Parti Démocratique de
Côte
d'Ivoire--PDCI), then the country's only legal party.
Administrative Divisions: Forty-nine prefectures
divided
into subprefectures; thirty-seven municipalities enjoyed
autonomous
status.
Judicial System: Laws based on French and, to
lesser
extent, customary law. Upper-level courts included Supreme
Court,
High Court of Justice, and State Security Court; lower
courts
included courts of appeal, courts of first instance,
courts of
assize, and justice of peace courts.
Politics: As of late 1988, Félix
Houphouët-Boigny had
served as president since independence. He had not named a
successor, encouraging rivalry between National Assembly
president
Henri Konan Bedié and Economic and Social Council
president
Philippe Yacé. Economic austerity, calls for multiparty
system, and
increasing crime were potential threats to stability.
Foreign Affairs: Leading member of Council of
the Entente
and West African Economic Community; pragmatic foreign
policy;
staunch ally of France and other Western nations on which
Côte
d'Ivoire relied for development aid. Supported United
States agenda
on South Africa and Chad.
Data as of November 1988
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