Laurent Gbagbo candidate.
The former president of Côte d'Ivoire agreed, Saturday March 9, to lead the party he founded for the 2025 presidential election, his spokesperson Katinan Koné told Reuters, after a meeting of the party's central committee.
Laurent Gbagbo, president from 2000 to 2011, launched his African People's Party - Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) in 2021 after his acquittal for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and his decade-long comeback spent abroad.
He was acquitted in 2019 by the Netherlands-based ICC of charges related to his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to acknowledge defeat in an election.
Laurent Gbagbo lost control of the party he founded, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), to a former ally while he was in pre-trial detention imprisoned in the Netherlands.
The election is expected to take place in October 2025. President Alassane Ouattara, who was re-elected in 2020, has not yet said whether he will run again.
Another possible candidate is Tidjane Thiam, former chief executive of Swiss bank Credit Suisse, who in December became president of the PDCI, one of Ivory Coast's main opposition parties, although the party has not yet officially designated its candidate.
With Reuters
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