Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
conventional short form:
Cote d'Ivoire
local long form:
Republique de Cote d'Ivoire
local short form:
Cote d'Ivoire
note:
pronounced coat-div-whar
former:
Ivory Coast
Government type:
republic; multiparty presidential regime established 1960
Capital:
name:
Yamoussoukro; note - although Yamoussoukro has been the official capital since 1983, Abidjan remains the commercial and administrative center; the US, like other countries, maintains its Embassy in Abidjan
geographic coordinates:
6 49 N, 5 16 W
time difference:
UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
12 districts and 2 autonomous districts*; Abidjan*, Bas-Sassandra, Comoe, Denguele, Goh-Djiboua, Lacs, Lagunes, Montagnes, Sassandra-Marahoue, Savanes, Vallee du Bandama, Woroba, Yamoussoukro*, Zanzan
Independence:
7 August 1960 (from France)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 7 August (1960)
Constitution:
previous 1960; latest approved by referendum 23 July 2000; amended 2012 (2012)
Legal system:
civil law system based on the French civil code; judicial review of legislation held in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court
International law organization participation:
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction under Article 12(3)of the Rome Statute
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
:
chief of state:
President Alassane Dramane OUATTARA (since 4 December 2010)
head of government:
Prime Minister Daniel Kablan DUNCAN (since 21 November 2012)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers appointed by the president
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (no term limits); election last held on 31 October and 28 November 2010 (next to be held in 2015); prime minister appointed by the president
election results:
Alassane OUATTARA elected president; percent of vote - Alassane OUATTARA 54.1%, Laurent GBAGBO 45.9%; note - President OUATTARA was declared winner by the election commission and took the oath of office on 4 December; Prime Minister SORO resigned from the incumbent administration and was subsequently appointed to the same position by OUATTARA; former president GBAGBO refused to cede resulting in a 5-month stand-off and was finally forced to stand down in April 2011
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (255 seats; members elected in single- and multi-district elections by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections:
elections last held on 11 December 2011 (next to be held in 2016)
election results:
percent of vote by party - RDR 42.1%, PDCI 28.6%, UDPCI 3.1%, RDP 1.7%, other 24.5% ; seats by party - RDR 127, PDCI 76, UDPCI 7, RDP 4, other 2, independents 39
Judicial branch:
highest court(s):
Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (organized into Judicial, Audit, Constitutional, and Administrative Chambers; consists of the court president, 3 vice-presidents for the Judicial, Audit, and Administrative chambers, and 9 associate justices or magistrates)
subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal (organized into civil, criminal, and social chambers); first instance courts; peace courts
Political parties and leaders:
Citizen's Democratic Union or UDCY [Theodore MEL EG]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Federation of University and High School Students of Cote d'Ivoire or FESCI [Augustin MIAN]
International organization participation:
ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, EITI (candidate country), Entente, FAO, FZ, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSMA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Daouda DIABATE (since 11 February 2011)
chancery:
2424 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
[1] (202) 797-0300
FAX:
[1] (202) 462-9444
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Terrance MCCULLEY
embassy:
Cocody Riviera Golf 01, Abidjan
mailing address:
B. P. 1712, Abidjan 01
telephone:
[225] 22 49 40 00
FAX:
[225] 22 49 43 32
Flag description:
three equal vertical bands of orange (hoist side), white, and green; orange symbolizes the land (savannah) of the north and fertility, white stands for peace and unity, green represents the forests of the south and the hope for a bright future
note:
similar to the flag of Ireland, which is longer and has the colors reversed - green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag of Italy, which is green (hoist side), white, and red; design was based on the flag of France
National symbol(s):
elephant
National anthem:
name:
"L'Abidjanaise" (Song of Abidjan)
lyrics/music: Mathieu EKRA, Joachim BONY, and Pierre Marie COTY/Pierre Marie COTY and Pierre Michel PANGO
note: adopted 1960; although the nation's capital city moved from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro in 1983, the anthem still owes its name to the former capital
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Cote d'Ivoire on this page is re-published from the 2015 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cote d'Ivoire Government 2015 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cote d'Ivoire Government 2015 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 10-Feb-15