SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: IVOIRIAN WORKERS, PARTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000316

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2016
TAGS: PGOV ASEC IV
SUBJECT: SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: IVOIRIAN WORKERS, PARTY
MAKES ITSELF HEARD

REF: A. ABIDJAN 261


B. ABIDJAN 228

Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) On March 20, PIT (the Ivoirian Workers, Party)
suspended its participation in the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC),to protest the fact that the
highest-ranking position it was given on the IEC's Executive
Board was Deputy Treasurer. In the previous IEC, PIT held
the position of Treasurer. PIT is upset both about the
demotion itself and the fact that it was not consulted about
it. In contrast, Prime Minster Banny and UN High
Representative for Elections Monteiro held extensive
consultations with other parties in the IEC to break the
protracted deadlock over the composition of the Board, and in
the end a new fourth Vice President position was created to
mollify President Gbagbo's FPI (Ivoirian Popular Front) party
(ref A). PIT and FPI are erstwhile allies, and they both
boycotted the October election of the IEC Board. PIT thus
saw itself brushed aside while the FPI was courted and
rewarded for the same behavior. To add insult to injury, the
position of Treasurer went to the rebel New Forces, who also
were given one of the four Vice President positions.


2. (C) PIT leader Francis Wodie has also made known his
unhappiness at not being included in the February 28 summit
of Ivoirian political leaders (ref B),which was attended by
President Gbagbo and the heads of the three principal
opposition parties.


3. (SBU) Established in 1990, PIT is one of Cote d'Ivoire's
oldest political parties, but it remains very small. PIT won
only four of the 225 seats in the National Assembly in the
2000 legislative elections, and two of their deputies later
defected to FPI. PIT and FPI both started out as socialist
parties, but the FPI shifted to a more populist, less
ideological orientation, while PIT has kept its image as a
party of left-wing intellectuals. PIT operates largely in
the shadow of FPI and it often mirrors FPI,s actions, but
it continues to insist on an independent political identity.
Relations between PIT leader Wodie and President Gbagbo are
not warm.


4. (C) Comment. It is not hard to see the reasoning behind
PIT's public fit of pique. With its small size and the
similarity of its platform to that of FPI, the party is
afraid of getting lost in the pre-election jockeying for
position. Wodie ran in the last two presidential elections
and he may well be considering another bid.


5. (C) PIT's withdrawal will not prevent the CEI from
functioning, but it will undermine the Board's pledge to
operate by consensus. Small as it is, PIT is still one of
the signatories of the Linas-Marcoussis agreement, and Wodie
has been a central figure in Cote d'Ivoire's political and
judicial development. We would not be surprised to see Prime
Minister Banny or CEI President Beugre reach out to Wodie to
try to bring him back on board. The olive branch is less
likely to come from President Gbagbo. For Wodie's part, he
has few other chips to play, and now that he has made his
point he has little to gain from staying out in the political
wilderness. In any case, the composition of the Board will
not be renegotiated, and the most Wodie can hope to get is
some gesture of respect for his political stature. End
Comment.


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