Ivorian elections: campaign kick off for remaining five candidates

The electoral campaign for the Ivorian presidential elections, whose first round due at the end of October, has officially started, reports RFI on October 10^th. Four candidates remain in the race, having received the green light from the Constitutional Committee, in addition to current president Alassane Ouattara who is widely seen as the favourite. Previous elections were marked by boycotts and protests, particularly in 2020 when 85 people were killed after Ouattara’s landslide win was contested.

Ahoua Don Mello, the main opposition contender, is standing as an independent candidate after being dismissed from his position at the PPA party (Party of African People) ; he is a long-time ally of former president Laurent Gbagbo who was in power from 2000 to 2010. Former first Lady Simone Ehivet, who is Gbagbo’s ex wife and a lifelong activist, is running with her new party MGC (Movement of Capable Generations), which she founded in 2025. Businessman and former Commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon, one of the richest men in Ivory Coast, is standing with his movement CODE (Democratic Congress), after being associated to both Ouattara’s group and with the historical party PDCI (Democratic party of Ivory Coast), currently in opposition. Former minister Henriette Lagou, who stood in the 2015 but collected less than 1% of the vote, represents a coalition of smaller opposition groups.

All five were holding meetings this week in different parts of the country, seeking to gather support from voters in a tense context. Major contenders such as former president Gbagbo and president of the PDCI party Tidjane Thiam were barred from standing, making Ouattara’s victory more likely. African Business notes that Ouattara’s presidency has overseen an unprecedented economic boost for the West African state, with record annual growth of over 6% for the past ten years, which has allowed for large infrastructure developments. Ouattara has also maintained friendly relationships with Western leaders, in particular with France’s Macron, and he is perceived as a pro-business president. Nevertheless, there are important pockets of opposition in the country and a strong desire for change, and popular figures such as Thiam remain very influential on the Ivorian political scene, despite his exclusion from the race.

RFI, African Business