A trio of veterans compete to fill the shoes of Côte d'Ivoire's founding President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. President Laurent Gbagbo, 63, was a university teacher and trade unionist who was imprisoned and exiled for opposing Houphouët-Boigny. In 2000, Gbagbo emerged at the top after muddled elections and then presided over five years of civil war during which he showed himself a tough and untrustworthy negotiator.
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