Ivory Coast: former first lady Simone Gbagbo launches political party

Former Ivorian first lady Simone Gbagbo formally launched her political party three years before the presidential election. Only candidate, Simone Gbagbo became president of the MGC, Movement of capable generations on Saturday. This decision is additional evidence of the end of her partnership with her soon-to-be ex-husband Laurent Gbagbo, by who she stood during the ten years of his presidency and his judicial setbacks

"We are a party that has an ideal of building a reconciled Ivory Coast full of justice and equity.", said Simone Gbagbo after being appointed president of the MGC (Mouvement des générations capable) in Abidjan.

The 73-year-old politician criticised Alassane Ouattara's national reconciliation process under which her ex-partner was handed a presidential pardon two weeks ago. "The presidential pardon granted to President Laurent Gbagbo as an amnesty further weighs on the socio-political atmosphere of the country, so we won't say thank you to Alassane Ouattara.", commented the former first lady.

Laurent Gbagbo's amnesty could still stop him from running as a candidate in the 2025 election. The couple Laurent and Simone Gbagbo were both condemned for their role in the post-election violence in 2010. Sentenced in 2015 in her country to 20 years in prison for "undermining state security," she also benefited in 2018 from the amnesty law.

Saturday, the president of the MGC, said her party vowed to fight discrimination, and defend loyalty, integrity and incorruptibility.