He was friendly with President Laurent Gbagbo in Côte d'Ivoire and built a new port there and when Gbagbo lost power in 2011 he quickly befriended Gbagbo's deadly enemy and successor President Alassane Ouattara...

Astute political observers say that unlike former president Henri Konan Bédié's Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) and former president Laurent Gbagbo's Front Populaire Ivoirien it is in fact only Ouattara's party – the Rassemblement des Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix (RHDP) – that has sought to look beyond the figure of the founder-president and make attempts at rejuvenation...

Out of the 255 seats up for grabs in the Assemblée nationale the party of President Alassane Ouattara's predecessor Laurent Gbagbo garnered just eight seats on its own and a further 50 in an uneasy electoral alliance with Henri Konan Bédié's Parti Démocratique de Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI AC Vol 61 No 13 An 80s classic)...

Côte d'Ivoire has had one of the world's fastest-growing economies since Ouattara took over the reins from Laurent Gbagbo following the country's second civil war in 2011...

(The two men were confined to the same hotel almost a decade earlier while they waited for Laurent Gbagbo to be dislodged from power in April 2011)...

The same day police lifted the siege of the Bédié residence and those of the remaining CNT members including Assoa Adou exiled ex-President Laurent Gbagbo's right-hand man in Brussels...

Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko however has reached to former president Laurent Gbagbo and he had a meeting with Assoa Adou...

Last week Ouattara talked of amending the constitution to impose an age limit on presidential candidates but that looks like a vindictive attempt to block off any political future for Bédié or former President Laurent Gbagbo before the latter is allowed to return home which Ouattara has promised to do...

But by doing this his opponents risk alienating Ivorian electors who have bitter memories of the six-month blockade and civil war that followed Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to acknowledge his United Nations-certified defeat in the 2010 contest...

Côte d'Ivoire is a key ally and trade market and Ouattara himself has been a trusted strategic support – in marked contrast to Laurent Gbagbo whose indulgence of populist nationalism stirred deep unease for successive French governments...

The compliant CEI has also helpfully ruled that both former parliamentary speaker and militia leader Guillaume Soro and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo both potential candidates may not vote let alone stand for office...

Waiting in the wings is Laurent Gbagbo Ouattara's old rival preparing to return to Côte d'Ivoire to cheer on the opposition...

In October Ouattara will face opponents representing a broader range of opinion than in 2015 when the hegemonic RHDP's main challenger was Pascal Affi N'Guessan leading the half of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) that was no longer loyal to former head of state Laurent Gbagbo...

They could shape the contest by mobilising anti-Ouattara opinion even from their enforced residence in Europe: they are former parliamentary speaker Guillaume Soro and former President Laurent Gbagbo...