Tidjane Thiam a minister under former President Henri Konan Bédié left Côte d'Ivoire for a lucrative business career after Bédié's ouster in a 1999 military coup...

Billon and a few others came into the PDCI with the idea of putting an end to the sclerosis the party was suffering under the leadership of the late President Henri Konan Bédié who did little but fret over the 1999 coup that deposed him while the party declined (AC Vol 57 No 1 ADO looks ahead & Vol 59 No 3 Jockeying for position)...

Ivorian public calendars are dominated by a fortnight of official homage to former President Henri Konan Bédié who died last August but will only be interred on 1 June...

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...