Last day of the legislative campaign in Côte d'Ivoire.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo, still popular, is waiting to know if he will be tried on appeal by the International Criminal Court to possibly return to his country.

But his party is making a comeback: after ten years of boycotting the elections, the "Gbagbo or nothing" branch of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) is back in the political game.

The pro-Gbagbo are forming an alliance with the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) of former President Henri Konan Bédié.

This coalition, Together for Democracy and Sovereignty (EDS) hopes to block the current leader Alassane Ouattara and prevent him from having an absolute majority in the assembly. 

If Laurent Gbagbo - arrested in 2011 and awaiting trial in The Hague for his alleged role in a bloody post-election crisis - has not yet returned to Côte d'Ivoire, his supporters are already actors- keys to the legislative elections, scheduled for Saturday 6 March.

Prevent "the consolidation of absolute power" by Alassane Ouattara

This election "marks the return of Laurent Gbagbo and his political organization in the institutional political game", rejoices his eldest son Michel, an academic and himself a candidate in the popular commune of Yopougon in Abidjan, a former stronghold of the FPI that he intends to win back.

"This should be seen as the return of peaceful democratic life and lasting peace," he said.

The objective of the EDS coalition, according to Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo who are in regular contact, is to influence the National Assembly in order to prevent "the consolidation of absolute power" of Alassane Ouattara and his party , the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) which holds the absolute majority.

"We don't have the same ideology, but whether we like it or not, Gbagbo has a popular aura: in entire areas, including Abidjan, it's 'Gbagbo or nothing'," says Djedri N'Goran , administrative director of the PDCI.

"Hope for revenge"

This intact popularity, despite the post-election violence of 2011, is partly linked to the personality of Laurent Gbagbo who, coming from a modest background, remains the symbol of "the historical opponent of Félix Houphouët Boigny", first president of independent Côte d'Ivoire, notes political analyst Rodrigiue Koné.

His trajectory "is that of the poor child who fights against the bourgeois system represented by leaders from large aristocratic families" and who carries "the hope of revenge", he says.

The Ivorian Minister of National Reconciliation, Kouadio Konan Bertin, also considers the former president from 2000 to 2010 as a "major player" in Ivorian political life whose "opinion must be taken into account".

He announced in mid-February that he was to meet Laurent Gbagbo in Brussels where he has resided since his parole by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in January 2019, pending a possible appeal from the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda by March 31.

The ICC before which Gbagbo appeared for crimes against humanity before being acquitted, authorized him to leave Belgium if the country he wishes to go to agrees to receive him.

Despite their tumultuous past - Gbagbo had refused to admit his defeat in the presidential election of December 2010 to Ouattara, which had triggered large-scale violence killing 3,000 people - the head of state authorized the end of 2020 l granting his rival two passports, one diplomatic and one ordinary, in the name of "national reconciliation".

Laurent Gbagbo, 75, then announced his desire to return to Abidjan in December, but this return is still pending.

His relatives finally announced it for "mid-March" and have set up a "National Reception Committee" to prepare the "big party" to accompany a return that promises to be spectacular.

With AFP

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