I.Coast opposition leader Gbagbo stays on as party chief

By AFP

Ivory Coast Former president Gbagbo has said he does not want to hold office again. By Sia KAMBOU (AFP)

SAT, 16 MAY 2026

Former president Gbagbo has said he does not want to hold office again. By Sia KAMBOU (AFP)

Ivory Coast's former president and opposition figure Laurent Gbagbo, who soon turns 81, was reappointed Friday as head of his party, after last year saying he planned to retire.

Gbagbo was prevented from standing in October presidential elections, won by his longtime rival Alassane Ouattara, because of a criminal conviction.

His PPA-CI party boycotted the legislative election in December and now has no MPs and just a handful of mayors.

At the close of its party congress in the main city of Abidjan on Friday, the party reappointed Gbagbo as its head, AFP journalists saw.

Gbabgo had said in October that he no longer wished to be a candidate to lead his party and would "refrain from holding political office".

His future political career will likely depend on him being allowed back onto the electoral roll.

That could be down to President Alassane Ouattara, who succeeded Gbagbo in 2011 after a deadly post-election crisis, pitting supporters of the two men.