Following his re-election as head of the African People’s Party – Ivory Coast (PPA-CI), at the end of the party’s first congress, former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo surprised everyone on Saturday, May 16, 2026. In front of thousands of supporters gathered in Songon, west of Abidjan, for the fourth edition of the Renaissance Festival, the opposition leader officially announced his intention to “delegate” his powers as party president.
However, Laurent Gbagbo immediately clarified the scope of his decision, firmly ruling out any idea of permanent withdrawal or automatic succession. This move is presented as an internal reorganization of the party’s governance, aimed at restructuring the exercise of executive power within the party while preserving the leadership of the former head of state.
This restructuring will take place after a phase of renewal of the party’s specialized structures. Laurent Gbagbo has thus conditioned the implementation of this delegation of powers on the prior holding of separate elective congresses, entirely dedicated to the youth and women’s leagues of the PPA-CI.
Regarding the schedule of these internal deadlines, the former president indicated that the precise dates of the various elections would be known as of this Monday, May 18, 2026. This announcement thus sets the next steps of the party’s political agenda and opens the way to a short-term reorganization of its leadership bodies.
