Ivory Coast's government has dissolved the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), the body that has overseen the country's elections for more than two decades, citing widespread criticism over its perceived lack of independence. Communications Minister and government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly announced the decision following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying it was intended to "open the way for a new election management mechanism better able to reassure political actors and Ivorians" and to guarantee peaceful elections over the long term. No replacement body has yet been named.

The CEI was established in 2001, in the aftermath of military rule, with the original purpose of building confidence in the electoral process. Over time, however, opposition parties came to view it as partisan, accusing it of close alignment with the ruling coalition and raising concerns about its management of the electoral roll. Authorities consistently denied those allegations. The commission has been at the centre of nearly every major electoral dispute in the country, most notably the contested 2010 presidential election, whose outcome triggered months of deadly violence in Ivory Coast, a West African nation of around 30 million people.

The dissolution follows October's presidential election, in which President Alassane Ouattara was re-elected to a fourth term with nearly 90 percent of the vote. Several prominent opposition figures were barred from standing, drawing criticism from opposition groups and civil society over the inclusiveness of the process. A controversial 2016 constitutional change had similarly allowed Ouattara to run for a third term in a vote largely boycotted by the opposition.

Reaction to Wednesday's announcement has been cautiously positive among opposition figures. Former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan, who was among those barred from last year's ballot, called on the government to "open a dialogue with political and civil society organisations to rebuild the electoral system, in the name of peace and stability." A spokesperson for the PPA-CI, the party of former president Laurent Gbagbo, described the move as an opportunity to "reset the clock" and reach agreement on the format and genuine authority of any future electoral body.

The government has not set a timeline for establishing a replacement institution or for consultations with political parties. The question of what form the new mechanism will take — and whether it will be seen as sufficiently independent — is likely to define the country's political landscape ahead of future elections.