Unless a yet-to-be-known actor has a spectacular political ascent the 2025 presidential election will be a contest between the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) on the one hand – the party has begun its recovery from three decades of sclerosis under the stagnant leadership of its former president the late Henri Konan Bédié – and the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) on the other...

The death in 2023 of one former rival Henri Konan Bédié and the uncertain electoral appeal and civil status of his other key counterpart Laurent Gbagbo might persuade him to hand over to a younger generation something he had said was necessary before the 2020 election before changing his mind and running again after the sudden death of his planned successor Amadou Gon Coulibaly...

A big choice faces the internal elections committee of the Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) the long-time ruling party now in opposition as they prepare to choose a new leader after the death of former head of state Henri Konan Bédié on 1 August...

No formal announcements have been made but it is almost certain that the men many call the 'three dinosaurs' (Ouattara Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo) will run yet again to the frustration of many...

Both aged 50 the two men appear to be positioning themselves as next generation successors or alternatives to Ouattara (80) Gbagbo (77) and former president Henri Konan Bédié (88)...

At this stage no one can rule out another contest pitting him against the other 'elephants' of Ivorian politics: former heads of state Henri Konan Bédié who will be 90 at the time of the next election and Laurent Gbagbo who will be 79 (AC Vol 63 No 1 Après nous le déluge...

This would allow Ouattara to close the door to any comeback for his two historic rivals Laurent Gbagbo and Henri Konan Bédié...

These three known as the 'elephants' are: Henri Konan Bédié who inherited the leadership of Houphouët-Boigny's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) and succeeded him in power before being ousted in a 1999 coup; Laurent Gbagbo elected President in controversial 2000 polls following a short-lived period of junta rule; and current President Alassane Ouattara who came to power in 2011 following nine years of on-off civil war that saw the country split in two between north and south (AC Dispatches 23/7/21 The elephants talk reconciliation)...

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo's Front populaire ivoirien (FPI) has splintered and its former leader helms a new party; President Alassane Ouattara's Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) is split over the succession; and Henri Konan Bédié's Parti démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) is under strain as questions grow about the future of its veteran leader (AC Vol 62 No 13 Old foes re-enter the ring)...

PDCI: The old man's still got itThe only party still to keep it together is led by Côte d'Ivoire's oldest politician and arguably its least successful president Henri Konan Bédié...

His image also took a bad knock for allegedly flouting the constitution – exploiting a loophole in it at the least – by standing for a third term and both the pro-Gbagbo camp and the other 'elephant' of Ivorian politics Henri Konan Bédié 87 boycotted the polls in October (AC Vol 61 No 21 No contest poll for Ouattara)...