Henri Konan Bédié

And that certainly looks within reach unless former President Henri Konan Bédié can find the energy and popular touch to reach beyond his Baoulé electorate and seriously challenge Ouattara while other contenders try to peel disillusioned fringes off the RHDP electorate (AC Vol 61 No 13 An 80s classic)...

This time around Ouattara will face at least four main contenders: Former president Henri Konan Bédié who two years ago led his Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire out of the RHDP camp; Pascal Affi N'Guessan for the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI); Albert Mabri Toikeusse of the formerly government-aligned Union pour la démocratie et la paix en Côte d'Ivoire (UDPCI); Former foreign minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh...

Both offer the advantage of having originally come from Henri Konan Bédié's Parti Démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) and thus broadening the RDHP's electoral appeal beyond its northern heartland...

That's what Henri Konan Bédié – who was president from 1993 to 1999 – is doing in the elections set for October hoping to ally his supporters with those of other opposition figures unable to join the contest and challenge the government candidate Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly (AC Vol 61 No 6 Ouattara and son)...

With the focus on Soro and the personal dramas of 'AGC' the honorific acronym Gon Coulibaly has now been accorded by the media and Soro the former President Henri Konan Bédié 86 has slipped out of the limelight...

Within the Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire- Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (PDCI-RDA) the likely nomination of former President Henri Konan Bédié at a convention on 12 June does not command universal support...

Opposition leader and former president Henri Konan Bédié accused the government of breaching its own rules against meetings of more than 50 by allowing a parliamentary congress to meet in the capital Yamoussoukro...

When former head of state Henri Konan Bédié pulled out of the RHDP alliance in mid-2018 Ouattara's best course of action became obscure; more so when the International Criminal Court acquitted Gbagbo of human rights crimes the following January (AC Vol 60 No 4 All bets are off)...

Those with long memories recall that Ouattara made similar promises to his former ally Henri Konan Bédié – if the story of the promise to Soro is true...

And Ouattara's former partner now rival Henri Konan Bédié was deposed in a coup 20 years ago...

By comparison former President Henri Konan Bédié's Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) has only four MPs while the arm of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) led by Pascal Affi N'Guessan has an even weaker presence in the chamber...