Former Cote d’Ivoire president Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to lead the party he founded into the 2025 presidential elections, spokesman Katinan Kone told Reuters following a meeting of the party’s central committee. Gbagbo, president of the West African country from 2000 to 2011, launched his African People’s Party – Cote d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) in 2021 following his acquittal on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and return from a decade abroad.
He was acquitted in 2019 by the Netherlands-based ICC on charges relating to his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat in an election.
Gbagbo lost control of the party he previously founded, the Ivorian Popular Front, to a former ally while imprisoned awaiting trial in the Netherlands for several years, but he retains a large and loyal base of supporters at home.
The election is expected to be held in October 2025. President Alassane Ouattara, who was re-elected in 2020, has not yet said whether he will run again.
Credit: rfi
