Ivory Coast: Constitutional Council validates five presidential candidates, excludes Gbagbo and Thiam

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With just over a month remaining before the presidential election on October 25, 2025, the Ivorian Constitutional Council has published the final list of candidates.

Five contenders will compete for the presidency, but two major opposition figures, former President Laurent Gbagbo and PDCI-RDA leader Tidjane Thiam, will be absent from the race.

The Council announced the list on Monday, September 8, ahead of the September 10 deadline. Out of sixty applications submitted, only five candidates met the requirements for eligibility. Observers had anticipated the exclusion of Gbagbo and Thiam.

Laurent Gbagbo, linked to a court conviction in the “BCEAO robbery” affair, was deemed ineligible due to his absence from the electoral register and the invalidation of over 20,000 endorsements.

Tidjane Thiam, despite efforts to regain eligibility, was excluded because of his dual nationality and lack of reinstatement on the electoral roll.

Attempts by Gbagbo’s PPA-CI party to invoke the 2018 amnesty and his 2021 acquittal by the International Criminal Court were unsuccessful. Thiam’s return to politics in 2023 to revive the PDCI also failed to secure him a place on the ballot.

The five candidates now approved are:

Alassane Ouattara, the outgoing President and RHDP candidate seeking a fourth term.
Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, former first lady, representing the Movement of Capable Generations (MGC).
Jean-Louis Eugène Billon, PDCI deputy running as an independent under the Democratic Congress (Code).
Ahoua Don Mello, former PPA-CI executive running independently after party exclusion.
Henriette Lagou Adjoua, spokesperson for the Group of Political Partners for Peace (GP-PAIX).

This election marks a historic moment: for the first time in more than two decades, neither the PDCI nor Gbagbo’s party will field a major candidate, reshaping the political landscape.

The exclusion of Gbagbo and Thiam has created a weakened opposition and a tense electoral environment. Justin Koné Katinan, a close associate of Gbagbo, denounced the decision as a “humiliation” and warned of inevitable political confrontation. Within the PDCI, uncertainty remains as the party had pinned its hopes on Thiam’s candidacy.

The official campaign will run from October 10 to 23. Amid protests, accusations of arbitrary exclusion, and Ouattara’s bid for a fourth term, the 2025 Ivorian presidential election is set to be a critical test of the nation’s political stability, fifteen years after the electoral crisis of 2010.