The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), in a press release consulted by Abidjan.net on Tuesday, announced the official opening of the candidacy submission period for the 2025 presidential election. This period will run from July 25 to August 26, 2025, at the Commission’s headquarters located in Cocody, from Monday to Friday, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

According to the release, and in accordance with Articles 24, 25, 51, 53, 54, and 55 of the Electoral Code, each application file must include several essential documents. These include a duly signed and legalized declaration of candidacy, which can be downloaded from the official CEI website (www.cei.ci). This declaration must provide the candidate’s personal information (identity, place of birth, parentage, profession), as well as political and symbolic elements such as the candidate’s emblem, color, and symbol for the ballot paper.

In addition, several mandatory administrative documents must be submitted: a birth certificate or supplementary judgment, a certificate of nationality, a criminal record extract, a tax clearance certificate, and a copy of the deposit receipt for the candidacy bond.

For candidates supported by one or more political parties or groups, a nomination letter is also required. Furthermore, the file must include a list of voters who are sponsoring the candidacy, with detailed information for each sponsor: full name, date and place of birth, voter card number, national ID number, and signature.

The submission must also include two ID photographs (3.5 x 4.5 cm and 13 x 18 cm formats), with good clarity and contrast, provided in both paper and high-resolution digital formats (CMYK color mode).

The CEI also specifies that, except for the nomination letter and the list of sponsoring voters, all documents must be dated within three months prior to the end of the submission period—that is, after May 26, 2025.