In Côte d’Ivoire, the new National Assembly now has its president. The deputies elected in the late December legislative elections proceeded, on Saturday, January 17, to elect the president of the parliamentary institution. Unsurprisingly, the candidate of the ruling party, the RHDP, Patrick Achi, a former Prime Minister, was overwhelmingly elected with nearly 85% of the vote. A look back at an election that opens the third legislature.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the deputies elected following the December 2025 legislative elections gathered on January 17, 2026 for the first session of the third legislature, with a single item on the agenda: the election of the president of the parliamentary institution. Following the vote, it was the candidate of the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace, the RHDP, Patrick Achi, who was elected President of the National Assembly with 84.98% of the vote.
Only two candidates were in the running for this election. Facing Patrick Achi, supported by the RHDP, which holds a majority in the chamber with 197 out of 255 seats, was Yao Yao Lazare, candidate of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire, the PDCI, the main opposition party, who received 14% of the vote. During the internal campaign, the latter had argued for greater budgetary rigor and the protection of parliamentary immunity. Shortly after the results were announced, the new President of the National Assembly spoke. Patrick Achi called for unity and a smooth functioning of the institution.
Patrick Achi, 71, a former prime minister, elected deputy for the Mé region with 82.75%, succeeds Adama Bictogo, who had led the chamber since 2022. He thus becomes the twelfth elected president of the Ivorian National Assembly since 1960.