Constitutional Council (Ivory Coast)

The Constitutional Council (French: Conseil constitutionnel) is a judicial body in the government of Ivory Coast that is patterned after the Constitutional Council of France. The Council was created by law in 1994 and began its operations in 1995. The seat of the Council is in Abidjan.

The Constitutional Council exercises the following powers:

Proposed legislation and treaties may be submitted by the government to the Council for a determination of constitutionality prior to the enactment of the law. They may also be submitted for scrutiny after they have been enacted.

If the constitutionality of a law is challenged in a judicial proceeding, the court may make a ruling on the issue and appeals on constitutionality issues are heard by the Constitutional Council. If a legal provision is declared to be unconstitutional, it cannot be enforced or applied.

No decision of the Constitutional Council may be appealed to any body. The Council is therefore the supreme court for matters within its jurisdiction.

The Constitutional Council may be composed of a President, two Vice-Presidents, former Presidents of Ivory Coast, and six councillors, or advisers. Decisions are made by majority vote. The President and Vice-Presidents serve six-year non-renewable terms and are appointed by the President of Ivory Coast. The six advisors are also appointed by the President of Ivory Coast to six-year non-renewable terms; three of the advisors are nominated by the President of Ivory Coast, and three are nominated by the President of the National Assembly.

Former Presidents of Ivory Coast are entitled to lifetime membership on the Council. However, no former president has yet become a member of the Council.

Members of the Constitutional Council hold the rank of minister of the government. The President of the Constitutional Council administers the oath of office to the newly elected President of Ivory Coast.

A decision of the Constitutional Council played a role in the 2010–11 Ivorian crisis. In the Ivorian presidential election of 2010, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo faced opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. On 2 December 2010, the Independent Electoral Commission released provisional results showing that Ouattara had won the election in the second round with 54 percent of the vote. However, the Constitutional Council refused to certify these results, and on 3 December, it declared that Gbangbo was the winner after taking just over 51 percent of the vote. The Council's decision was based on its refusal to certify the results from seven regions in the north of the country, where it identified irregularities. Supporters of Ouattara argued that this was a pretext created by Paul Yao N'Dré, the President of the Council and a Gbangbo loyalist.

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