Simone Gbagbo, Ivory Coast’s former first lady once wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, is running for president on Saturday, marking a remarkable return to frontline politics after more than a decade of political exile and imprisonment.
The 76-year-old politician, long known as the “Iron Lady” of Ivorian politics, is among a handful of candidates cleared to face incumbent President Alassane Ouattara, who is widely expected to secure a fourth term. Her campaign signals a new chapter for Gbagbo, one pursued without her ex-husband, former President Laurent Gbagbo, whose name once dominated the nation’s political scene.
Simone Gbagbo rose to prominence during her husband’s turbulent presidency from 2000 to 2011, a period marked by civil conflict and a disputed election that plunged the country into chaos.
Her sharp political instincts and influence within government earned her both admiration and fear. “All the ministers respect me, and I am often placed above them,” she once told L’Express in an interview that reflected her status as one of the most powerful figures in Ivorian politics at the time.
The Gbagbos were arrested together in April 2011 at their Abidjan residence after Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara in the 2010 election — a standoff that left around 3,000 people dead. While Laurent Gbagbo was later sent to the ICC in The Hague, Simone Gbagbo was tried at home and, in 2015, sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against the state.
She was granted amnesty by President Ouattara in 2018, part of an effort to ease lingering political divisions.
After her release, Gbagbo formally ended her decades-long partnership with Laurent Gbagbo, who filed for divorce in 2021. A year later, she founded the Movement of Skilled Generations (MGC), a social-democratic party she says is committed to reconciliation and economic independence.
Her campaign platform centres on national unity and justice reform, including a proposal for a general amnesty law to release all political and military prisoners and allow exiled Ivorians to return home.
Gbagbo has also called for “true monetary autonomy,” arguing that Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, should replace the euro-pegged CFA franc with a regional currency. She has expressed support for the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — a bloc of military-led governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — that has distanced itself from Western influence and criticised Ouattara’s alignment with France.
Earlier this month, her campaign received a boost from Charles Blé Goudé, a former youth leader and close ally of Laurent Gbagbo, who was acquitted alongside the former president by the ICC in 2019.
While her chances of unseating Ouattara remain remote, Simone Gbagbo’s re-entry into the presidential race carries deep weight.
Africa Digital News, New York
