Ivory Coast: Former president Laurent Gbagbo agrees to contest 2025 election

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to fly his party's flag as presidential candidate in the 2025 elections.

Katinan Kone, spokesperson of his party the African People’s Party – Cote d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), which Gbagbo founded in 2021 gave the news after a meeting of the party’s central committee on Saturday.

Acquitted in 2019 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges relating to his role in a civil war sparked by his refusal to concede defeat in the 2010 election, Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast in 2021.

He lost control of the party he previously founded, the Ivorian Popular Front (IPF), while imprisoned awaiting trial in the Netherlands for several years, but he is believed to still retain a large and loyal base of supporters at home.

The west African country's next election is expected to be held in October 2025. President Alassane Ouattara, 82, who was re-elected in 2020 has not yet said whether he will run again.