“Yop”, as it is nicknamed, is, Saturday, September 2, one of the most scrutinized municipalities in Côte d’Ivoire. While 8 million voters are called to the polls for municipal and regional elections, Yopougon, the most populous locality in the country with its 1.5 million inhabitants, is the scene of one of the most bitterly disputed battles.
Considered a bastion of supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo, this town in the district of Abidjan has passed since 2013 into the hands of the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), the presidential party, while the opposition boycotted the polls. But this time, the African Peoples’ Party-Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) has decided to join the race, sending another Gbagbo, Michel, the son of the former head of state , conquer the town. However, nothing assures him of victory. If, in many localities of the country, the opposition has managed to choose single candidates, it leaves in scattered ranks in Yopougon. The Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) has nominated Augustin Dia Houphouët, the great-nephew by adoption of the first Ivorian president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, as its candidate.
These two men face one of the heavyweights of the majority. Adama Bictogo, the president of the National Assembly, plays big in this electoral fight. While President Alassane Ouattara, 81, has yet to announce whether he will seek a fourth term in 2025, the businessman hopes to use Yopougon as a springboard for the highest office.
“Ivory Coast in miniature”
Sign that the stake is important for the RHDP, Adama Bictogo did not skimp on the means to convince the voters: large posters, coupé-décalé concerts, donations to the population… On Friday, he concluded his campaign with a large meeting on Ficgayo Square. “A fireworks display that crowns the rainbow population of Yopougon”, exclaimed the candidate, who never ceased to praise the “plural” composition of the commune bringing together “all ethnic groups” . “Yopougon is Ivory Coast in miniature,” he repeats over and over again.
The challenge for Adama Bictogo will be to forget his parachute drop, while he is also a deputy for Agboville, a town located north of Abidjan. But the candidate claims to have “married” the heart and the state of mind of the population, also sweeping away the reproaches of cumulation of mandates. “The law does not prohibit it,” he replies, assuring that he will be “happy to be able to be in Yopougon permanently”.
The President of the National Assembly was also the target of multiple attacks by the PPA-CI, some of whose figures waved Islamophobic slogans, insistently evoking the Muslim religion of Adama Bictogo. “You don’t eat pork, you don’t rule Yopougon!” “, thus launched Sam Jichi Mohamed, alias “Sam the African”, during the closing of the campaign of Michel Gbagbo, in reference to the Muslim religion of Adama Bictogo, garnering the cheers of the crowd.
“To fill a place with young people, many of whom do not vote, to give them t-shirts or gifts… all this does not guarantee victory. This will be played out in the participation rate, warns sociologist Séverin Kouamé. In Yopougon, it will be played on the wire. At the national level, the RHDP looks like the favorite and should win most municipalities and regions. Nothing, however, assures the formation of Alassane Ouattara to manage to repeat the results of the last local elections, in 2018, when he won 18 regions (out of 31) and 92 municipalities (out of 197). These polls are the first since the return of Laurent Gbagbo, in 2021, imprisoned eight years in the prison of the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity before being acquitted. If the former head of state, who remains removed from the electoral lists, cannot vote, he will know how popular his party is.
