The African Côte d’Ivoire Party (PPA-CI) could become one of the main opposition forces alongside the PDCI, the former President Henri Konan Bédié.
Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo officially launched, Sunday, October 17, his new movement, the Party of African Peoples-Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), concretizing his return on the political scene after ten years of absence.
In a speech of more than one hour in front of several hundred militants, the former head of state is earned on its years of incarceration in The Hague (2011-2019) and the prosecution for crime against Humanity engaged by the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which it was finally acquitted last year. “I will do politics until my death!” He assured, under an ovation.
On the night from Saturday to Sunday, Laurent Gbagbo had no surprise been elected at the head of the PPA-CI by an acclamation of the some 1,600 delegates present in Abidjan. “We wondered: who will lead the party? We sought … and we found,”, Ironized the President of the Congress, Sébastien Danojedjé, under the laughter and applause. The movement logo – two hands intertwined in a map of Africa – was then formalized, symbolizing the pan-African target of the new party and its leader.
“Look at the world and see what are the powerful: it’s large countries, China, the United States, Russia, Canada. As long as we are in micro-states, we are nothing African states must unite! “, Said Laurent Gbagbo, referring to the United States of Africa, a concept many times evoked but never realized. Political representatives of a dozen African countries were present at the Congress.
The noticed absence of Simone Gbagbo
A majority of the Ivorian Popular Front Frames (FPI), the former Training of Laurent Gbagbo now in the hands of the former Prime Minister Pascal Affé N’guessan, rallied the PPA. An absence, however, was noticed Sunday, that of Simone Gbabgo. On the move to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the former first lady, of whom Laurent Gbagbo recently requested the divorce, would seek to trace his own political path.
The new party could become one of the main opposition forces, with the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), former President Henri Konan Bédié. Its manifesto mentions the “obvious decline in democratic achievements in the country” and criticizes “financial dependence” with foreign powers. Saturday, the number two of the ruling party, Adama Bictogo, present at the PPA Congress Tribune, launched a message of appeasement, believing that the young training “will strengthen the democratic vitality” in Côte d’Ivoire.
The presidential election of 2025 is already in all heads. Does Laurent Gbagbo intend to apply? “At that age, after this course, wisdom is to decide to leave. But I decided that I will not leave abruptly …” He said Sunday. The executive plans to introduce an age limit to 75 years to introduce themselves. The Head of State, Alassane Ouattara, and his predecessors, Laurent Gbagbo and Henri Konan Bédié, would then be prevented from competing.