between the rules of the Nationality Code and their non-implementation in practice fueled divergent social perceptions of who were Ivorian nationals or foreigners. 2.2. Turbulent decades: the rise of Ivoirité, instability, civil war, and political compromise The first turning point in Ivorian politics came in 1990. Faced with the country’s economic crisis, the government under Alassane Ouattara – who was then Prime Minister – put in place a series of austerity measures and the Ivorian parliament passed a law in 199028 that required all foreigners, including citizens of ECOWAS Member States, to obtain and carry a resident permit, or carte de séjour, at all times.29 This marked the beginning of an era of increasingly protectionist measures. After Houphouët-Boigny’s death in 1993, Henri Konan Bédié, a fellow PDCI leader assumed the presidency as his constitutional successor until fresh elections were organized in 1995. It appeared at first that Bédié would continue his predecessor’s liberal policies in favor of integrating foreigners. For example, Bédié signed a collective decree in October 1995 naturalizing 8,133 “persons of Burkinabè nationality originally from the villages of Garango, Koudougouk, Koupela, Tenkodogo, in Bouaflé Department, and the villages of Kaya, Koudougou, Ouagadougou, in Zuénoula Department.”30 This was a symbolic gesture of Bédié’s support for this community of Burkinabè origin, which included several prominent figures in Ivorian society of Burkinabè descent.31 Furthermore, Bédié sought to institutionalize the right of foreigners to vote.32 A PDCI bill put forward in 1994 even sought to accord the right to vote to “non-national citizens of ECOWAS States, in application of the Protocol relative to community citizenship and registered on the voter list.”33 The bill was defeated. Rather, the 1994 Electoral Code kept the 1960 Constitution’s principle that only Ivorian nationals can vote, overwriting the 1980 Electoral Code’s sanctioning of the participation of Africans of foreign origin in elections.34 Furthermore, Article 49 of this Code introduced new criteria for the eligibility of presidential candidates: “No one can be elected President of the Republic if he is not at least 40 years of age and if he is not an Ivorian by birth, born to a father and mother themselves Ivorians by birth. He should never have renounced Ivorian nationality.”35 The same requirements were adopted with regards to the eligibility of parliamentary candidates.36 Due to disputes over various aspects of the electoral process, Bédié’s principal opponents, including the FPI’s Laurent Gbagbo and the new Rally of the Republicans (Rassemblement des 28 Loi No. 90-437 du 29 mai 1990 relative à l’entrée et au séjour des étrangers en Côte d’Ivoire. The goal of instituting resident permits was to generate revenue to finance the budget deficit. Sylvère Yao Konan, Migration en Côte d’Ivoire : Profil National 2009, International Organization for Migration, 2009. 30 Décret No. 95-809 du 26 septembre 1995 portant naturalisation des personnes de nationalité burkinabè originaires des villages de Garango, Koudougou, Koupéla, Tenkodogo dans le département de Bouaflé et des villages de Kaya, Koudougou, Ouagadougou dans le département de Zuénoula, Journal Officiel No. 1 Edition Complémentaire (E.C.), 6 January 1996. 31 Id. 32 “Our position in the PDCI-RDA is clear. We are not going to take away the right to vote of those who have voted since 1945 in Côte d’Ivoire. It’s simply not a question,” Henri Konan Bédié, Fraternité Matin, 27 December 1993, as quoted in Sylvie Bredeloup, La Côte d’Ivoire ou l’Etrange Destin de l’Etranger, Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, pp. 9–10, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2003, pp. 85-113. 33 The bill was put forward by Interior Minister Bombet. Reynald Blion and Sylvie Bredeloup, La Côte d’Ivoire dans les Stratégies Migratoires des Burkinabè et des Sénégalais, in Le modèle ivoirien en questions : crises, ajustements, recompositions, p. 727, B. Contamin and H. Memel-Fôte (Eds.), Paris: Karthala 1997, pp. 707-37. 34 Loi No. 94-642 du 13 décembre 1994 portant Code électoral, Article 3. 35 Article 50 of Law No. 94-642 declares ineligible “Ivorians who have obtained citizenship of another State.” 36 Law No. 94-642, Articles 77-78. 29 10