Former Ivory Coast President Gbagbo Agrees to Run in Next Year's Presidential Election

The spokesperson for the African People's Party-Ivory Coast, Katéin Kone, told Reuters that "former president Laurent Gbagbo agreed on Saturday to represent the party in next year's presidential elections." Gbagbo, who served as the head of state in the West African nation from 2000 to 2011, founded the African People's Party-Ivory Coast in 2021 after being acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court and returning to the country after a decade abroad. The International Criminal Court had acquitted Gbagbo in 2019 of charges related to his role in a civil war that erupted after he refused to acknowledge his electoral defeat. Gbagbo lost leadership of the Ivorian Popular Front Party, which he originally founded, to a former ally while he was imprisoned for several years in the Netherlands, but he still maintains a large base of supporters. The elections are expected to take place in October 2025. The current president, Alassane Ouattara, who was re-elected in 2020, has not announced whether he will run for re-election.