Républicains, or RDR) party’s candidate Alassane Ouattara, boycotted the 1995 elections. In these contested circumstances, Bédié won the 1995 elections. Once President, Bédié quickly grew hostile towards foreigners, becoming the founder of what would become known as the policy of “Ivoirité.” Several public policy measures were adopted to ensure that “real Ivorians” would have preferential treatment in the labor market and public office.37 In the spirit of Ivoirité, the Ivorian parliament passed a major rural land tenure law in 1998 that denied foreigners the right to be land-owners.38 As discussed further in Annex III, additional legal amendments were made regarding the system of identification of Ivorians and foreigners in the lead-up to the 2000 elections, in particular tightening the documentary requirements for obtaining an Ivorian national ID card, which never came into effect due to intervening events. Bédié’s government was toppled in a military coup led by General Robert Guéï on 24 December 1999, plunging the country into deep political crisis. Political negotiations ensued in order to allow for the October 2000 presidential elections to take place. A major part of this compromise was the adoption of a new Constitution in 2000. Article 35 of this supreme law anchored the principles behind the eligibility requirements to be president of Côte d’Ivoire that had first been adopted in the 1994 Electoral Code. According to Article 35: The candidate for the presidential election should be at least 40, but no more than 75 years of age. He should be Ivorian of origin, born to a father and mother themselves Ivorian of origin. He should never have renounced Ivorian nationality. He should never have claimed another nationality. He is to have resided in Côte d’Ivoire in a continuous fashion for five years preceding the date of elections and have totalled 10 years of effective presence. Note that the concept of “Ivorian of origin” here (Ivoirien d’origine) is narrower than that of attribution of Ivorian “nationality by origin” (nationalité d’origine) as understood in the Nationality Code as explored in detail in Sections 3.1.1 and 3.2.1 below. The 2000 Electoral Code also incorporated these eligibility criteria for the presidential office in Côte d’Ivoire.39 The stringent eligibility criteria endorsed by the 1994 and 2000 Electoral Codes and the 2000 Constitution created a new public discourse of who can legitimately claim to be truly Ivorian. A social mythology emerged whereby ethnic groups typically associated with Côte d’Ivoire’s South held fast to their own authenticity as indigenous Ivorians in opposition to people from northern Côte d’Ivoire. Many northern Ivorians had moved to the South to participate in the economic boom alongside foreign migrants; both groups were predominantly Muslim. Many southerners began treating all “new arrivals,” understood as anyone not indigenous to the local community, as “foreigners,” without distinguishing between northerners who are originally from Côte d’Ivoire or foreigners who might have originated in neighboring countries. This group, writ large, came to be known as the “Dioulas.”40 Public perceptions stigmatizing northerners as foreigners continued to mount in the lead up to the 2000 elections, particularly with respect to the RDR leader and presidential candidate, Alassane Ouattara, whose “Ivorianness” came into doubt. On the eve of the elections, the 37 Babo, supra note 20. Loi No. 98-750 du 23 décembre 1998 relative au domaine foncier rural. 39 Loi No. 2000-514 du 1er août 2000 portant Code électoral, Article 48. 40 The term “Dioula” refers to a language from the Bambara (Mali) group widely spoken amongst historical migrant traders in the West African region and continues to be used today. Jean-Pierre Dozon, La Côte d’Ivoire entre Démocratie, Nationalisme, et Ethnonationalisme, Politique Africaine, No. 78, June 2008, pp. 45-62. The terms "allogène" and "allochtone" are also used in Côte d’Ivoire to refer to foreign and internal migrants, respectively, in distinction to "autochtones" or indigenous inhabitants. 38 11