Ivory Coast: Laurent Gbagbo convenes a strategic meeting of the PPA-CI
Former president Laurent Gbagbo has convened an expanded meeting of the Conseil stratégique et politique (CSP) of his party, the Parti des Peuples Africains – Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI), according to a statement signed by his chief of staff, Emmanuel Ackah.
SUMMARY
This meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at Mr. Gbagbo’s office in Attoban (Abidjan), comes amid high tensions two weeks before the presidential election on October 25. The country is shaken by spontaneous demonstrations against President Alassane Ouattara’s fourth term, deemed “illegal,” and by the exclusion, considered arbitrary, of several opposition leaders from the electoral race.
No official agenda has been released, but this meeting, the first since the launch of the marches by the Front commun de l’opposition, is expected to be decisive. It will bring together CSP members, the heads of the party’s organs, the president of the Control Committee, the head of the Party School, as well as the officials of the Permanent Political Council and the Disciplinary Council.
Strategic repositioning of the PPA-CI
According to several internal sources, this convocation aims to redefine the PPA-CI’s political line in response to the violent repression of the October 11 demonstrations, dispersed in several cities including Abidjan, Daloa, Bonoua and Gagnoa. It should also address the coordination of future actions within the Front commun PDCI–PPA-CI, determined to keep up the pressure until the Constitution is fully respected.
Having remained silent since his exclusion by the Constitutional Council, Laurent Gbagbo is thus making a notable return to the political scene. A silence his supporters had already described as “heavy with meaning”.
“Marching is not a crime”
The day before, Me Habiba Touré, lawyer and spokesperson for the founder of the PPA-CI, confirmed the continuation of “scattered and peaceful marches” across the country. She announced that regular reports would now be published to encourage, structure and make these citizen mobilizations visible, “serving a single objective: the restoration of the rule of law and public freedoms.” “Marching is not a crime, it is a right. We will continue to march for our freedoms,” she said.
With less than fifteen days until the vote, Laurent Gbagbo’s political reappearance is seen as a strong signal, even a major turning point in the opposition’s momentum against a government accused of authoritarian drift.
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