Chronicle of changing times

This column offers a stock-taking appraisal of political-religious relations in Cote d’Ivoire before and after the October 2020 presidential elections, after a decade of the Ouattara regime. It begins by documenting the relative loss of influence of religious leaders in the public sphere, which is now more conspicuously dominated by political leaders than it was in the past. In particular, it examines the link between ways in which religious authorities are mimicking the modus operandi of the political authorities, as well as the erosion of the former’s credibility. The article goes on to chronicle the ecumenical initiative launched by a large number of religious leaders who, in the final weeks before the election, formed an “Alliance of Religions for Peace” to help calm a socio-political climate that had become stormy and violent. The conclusion looks in particular at the latent character of the faithful’s criticism of their leadership, and at the path they are taking towards initiatives that are possibly emancipatory but still rather uncertain.