This year the contemporary African art fair Also Known as Africa (AKAA) in Paris celebrates its tenth edition, with artists blurring distinctions between craft and art, Asia and Africa, far away from the financial refuge that big art fairs have become...
Snapshots by myself:
Nearly 8.7 million voters are expected to elect their president this Saturday in Côte d'Ivoire, a country of 38 million inhabitants and the most dynamic economy of the West Africa region.
Five candidates are in the running, including the incumbent, Alassane Ouattara, who is seeking a fourth term.
Ouattara, 83, has been in power since 2011, and since then the country began reasserting itself as an African economic powerhouse, being the world's top cocoa producer. A legacy that he hasn't missed mentioning in his campaign.
"We want a knockout blow," his allies say, as they hope for a win from the first round, avoiding a run-off. Facing him, four challengers, mostly outsiders, apart from Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady, ex-wife of Laurent Gbagbo.
Five candidates, one powerhouse
Facing Ouattara is first the former trade minister Jean-Louis Billon, the youngest candidate at 60, claiming to represent a "new generation" of Ivorian politicians.
The agribusinessman looks to rally voices by promising more jobs for the youth, the employed and those left out by the current rapid growth.
His campaign has been the most dynamic among the four, with rallies all over the country.
Two women are also competing: the aforementioned former first lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, 76, who is looking to gather support from the faithful followers of her former husband, and the centrist Henriette Lagou, a moderate who already stood in 2015 -- taking less than one percent then.
The fifth candidate, civil engineer and independent Pan-African Ahoua Don Mello, does not conceal his Russian sympathies and claims to represent 'leftist' ideas, as the Gbagbos.
But these four candidates lack the support of a formal party, while the main politicians on the Ivorian scene have been excluded from the race.
Former president and Ouattara's rival Laurent Gbagbo has been barred from standing, as well as the former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, head of one of the main political parties, PDCI.
The constitutional council eliminated them on the grounds they had been removed from the electoral roll, Thiam because nationality-related legal issues stemming from him acquiring French citizenship and Gbagbo for a criminal conviction.
Their absence added to a tense political climate, with their supporters calling for protests the authorities have strictly banned, citing a risk to public safety.
None of the four candidates seeking to unseat Ouattara represents an established party, and they lack the logistical means compared to the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), led by Ouattara.
Major security upscale
Some 44,000 security forces were deployed nationwide, which systematically quashed blockades or marches in several localities, especially former opposition strongholds in the south and west.
Three people died over the past few weeks, two protesters and a gendarme, in the south and centre-west. And more than 700 people were arrested, some for acts of "terrorism," according to state prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone.
Around 30 were sentenced to a three-year prison term for disturbing public order were also handed down.
The authorities acknowledged a tightening of the pre-poll screws by saying they did not want to permit "chaos" to arise nor see a repeat of the unrest of 2020, when 85 people died during the election.
"The state is taking preventive security measures to avoid electoral violence. But the best way to have peaceful polls is to organise inclusive elections," political analyst Geoffroy Kouao told AFP.
Ouattara himself came to power after a bloody crisis following the 2010-2011 contest, which cost more than 3,000 lives in clashes between his supporters and those of Gbagbo, who ruled for a decade before him.
All eyes on turnout
A crucial issue this Saturday is the turnout, while many voters complain they don't have real choices.
In the north, most people, who are of the Malinke ethnicity, strongly back Ouattara. His RHDP is hoping to get up to 90 percent of the votes and a strong participation rate.
Southern and western regions, home to groups historically pro-PDCI or pro-Gbagbo, might avoid the polls altogether, due to the lack of voting instructions from their leader.
"Since the end of the one-party rule and the rise of multipartism, the political debate in Côte d'Ivoire has begun to tribalise," historian Hyacinthe Bley told me, from the Félix Houphouët Boigny University, in Cocody Abidjan.
This led to tensions, even coups, like in 1999, and a civil war after the 2020 elections.
"The country is still divided between the north and the south", Bley continued, " and no one forgot the violence of the war of 2010-11. The presidential election of 2015 was more peaceful, but the reconciliation is still not complete."
"Nothing will make me vote, my candidate isn't on the list and none of them represents my ideas," complained Emile Kouadio, in the popular district of Yopougon in Abidjan, which remains overwhelmingly pro-Gbagbo.
According to Bley, people in Côte d'Ivoire still vote for a person rather than a party. So the four challengers appear very weak compared to Ouattara.
"The absence of the two main opponents will demobilise a significant portion of the electorate, and so far we haven't seen a significant shift behind a candidate," said William Assanvo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
The government is highlighting its record of several years of strong economic growth in a country rich in mineral resources, which became an oil and gas producer in the 2020s, as well as a security situation largely under control, despite jihadist threats on its borders with Burkina Faso and Mali.
Critics however underline that the growth only benefits a small portion of the population and came with a deep increase in the cost of living.
What most people told me is however that they hoped for 2010-2011 violence never to repeat and the national reconciliation process to be deepened.
Women, very active in the campaign, still hope for more space in Côte d'Ivoire's politics
Ivorians are going to the polls on 25 October to elect their next president. Incumbent President Alassane Ouattara is running for a fourth term, facing four outsiders during a two-week-long campaign. Women are very involved in the hustings, both on the President's side and in the opposition. There are even two female candidates. However, women only represent about 30 percent of elected people in Côte d’Ivoire.
I report from Abidjan.
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Women are very involved in this campaign in Côte d'Ivoire, on the President's side and in the opposition.
The campaign started on Friday 10 October. Elected every five years, the President hold a very important role in the West African country, known for its rich cocoa and coffee productions.
The first round is scheduled for Saturday, with incumbent President Alassane Ouattara, 83, in power since 2011, running for a fourth term. He is facing four outsiders, including two women. Laurent Gbagbo (Simone's ex-husband) and Tidjane Thiam, were however excluded from the race by the constitutional council.
The two women are not expected to get a large part of the votes, but they do represent a keen involment of the female voters, campaigners and other elected officials in Côte d'Ivoire.
Some come to all meetings, others help organise these events. MPs, mayors and officials are also involved, even the candidates' wives, like Jean-Louis Billon's, Henriette Gomis Billon.
Candidates and campaigners
The two women also running for president. are Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, a former first lady, and Henriette Lagou, who told the media she hopes to embody a female alternative in a competition dominated by the traditional male figures of Ivorian political life.
Former Minister for Women under Laurent Gbagbo, Lagou also founded the movement "Two Million Girls for Gbagbo", to support the future of young Ivorien women and girls.
To seduce women voters, during the campaigns, both Ouattara and Billon, given as the president's main challenger, recruited dozens of women organisers and supporters.
According to Martine Vléon, national campaign director of the women for Billon, women play a key role.
"This page in our country's political history will be written by women who stand tall, dignified and determined — women who know that Côte d’Ivoire’s future will not be built without them," she said at the meeting, adding women always had a great role in Ivorian politics.
But the pillars remain the many female voters.
"We want peace in Côte d'Ivoire," a supporter of Billon told me. "Someone who will give us peace. We want to live in tranquility, in joy, in love. That's what we're looking for. We don't want someone who will come and create problems, no... We want to work."
For Ouattara's women supporters, what matters is the legacy of the president.
"I’m here to support my Papa ADO (Alassane Dramane Ouattara), the father of orphans, the one who built today’s great Côte d’Ivoire, which now looks like Paris. I don’t need to go to Paris anymore; I stay in my country, thanks to ADO. My country is the most beautiful country in the world. Papa ADO, I adore you."
Another female supporter added the President has done a lot for women in Côte d'Ivoire.
"He’s a good president. Thanks to him, there are so many markets today, and jobs," she told RFI. "We don’t struggle to sell anymore, you know what I mean?"
She says he is a good president for women too.
"Childbirth today, schools, it’s all free. There are evening classes for adults. And today we no longer suffer to give birth like before, you see? That’s why we women come out today to say thank you. May God give him a long life. You don’t change a winning team!"
Expectations
Among women journalists, a reference often comes to mind: the Women's March on Grand-Bassam, a protest movement initiated by women who traveled from Abidjan to Grand-Bassam from 22 to 24 December, 1949, to demand the release of political leaders imprisoned by the French colonial authorities.
Women are often credited in the country for holding family, businesses and society together, even if they are not as represented in parliament as men.
"Ivorian women have always carried the country on their shoulders," Vléon said at Billon's meeting in Abidjan, on 14 October. "They feed our families, educate our children, care for our sick and participate in economic and social life with courage and selflessness."
In 2023, women represented only 13 percent of Members of Parliament, 7 percent of mayors, and barely 6 percent of regional elected officials.
A law was however passed in 2019 to establish a 30 percent quota for women in list elections, increasingly implemented.
This was enough to boost female candidacies, but there is still a long way to go.
Solutions exist for greater representation of women in politics: enforcing quotas that already exist, aiming for 30 percent of women elected officials; training for female candidates; funds to support campaigns; raising awareness among children at school; and involving men in the fight for equality.
“We believe the candidate Jean-Louis Billon will provide jobs for young people here, for us in Côte d’Ivoire," a young man told me at one of his rallies, in Cocody, in the heart of the economic capital, Abidjan. "Right now, as young people, we want to work... so we can feed our families.”
Like him, young people came to support Billon, a 60-year-old businessman, former Trade Minister and the first employer in the country's private sector. With the disqualification of political powerhouses Laurent Gbagbo and PDCI leader Tidjane Thiam, Billon is seen as the main opponent to President Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011.
About 40 percent of the 38 million Ivorians are under 15.
And Ouattara, seeking a fourth term, is 83.
For some of the young voters, Jean-Louis Billon is the right leader, especially as he promises to bring employment to many more Ivorians.
These issues appeal to young voters from the opposition, who complain about lack of work.
“We are suffering… We cannot work," a man complained at a forbidden march to rally supporters of Thiam. "Some Ivorians are even going abroad.”
Côte d'Ivoire's economy is the most flourishing in West Africa and a pillar for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU, mostly known as UEMOA in French), which joins eight countries. But its wealth is still in the hands of a few.
For his supporters, Billon could also be a guarantor of change, and express a healthy political alternation for democracy.
"We would like a little change," one of them told me at his Abidjan rally. "Honestly, we recognise that the current president has done the best he could for us. Anyone who says that Alassane Dramane Ouattara hasn't worked will be acting in bad faith... Because he's done everything: infrastructure, schools, universities... Currently, everything is good, everything is fine. But we would like a little change, to appease the hearts of other politicians.”
Most people at the meeting also expressed a desire for peace and reconciliation.
Flavio Cunha is a 21-year-old economics student at the Félix Houphouët Boigny University, in Abidjan. He expressed worries about his own future because of it.
"I wouldn't say that I feel hopeful, it's kind of complicated. The job opportunities are really super limited. So you have to be super competitive in the job market, because we have a lot of new graduates and experienced graduates on the job market. You don't get jobs easily."
He is also worried that politics is actually making the situation worse, in a country where opportunities could be plentiful.
"African politics makes things worse in Africa because of our leaders, especially here. The politics that they're applying doesn't actually suit us. Currently we're in the election month, and we feel a little bit worried about what's going to happen, because of the way that the politicians speak, and the way they do politics. It doesn't make us secure about our future."
Flavio remembers the civil war of 2010-2011 and doesn't want a repeat. "I do have memories, lots of difficult memories, a lot of bad things. I lived in Adjamé at the time (in Abidjan), I was seven, I saw a lot of dead bodies on the streets, that was horrible."
He says it is important to not repeat these mistakes.
"We just need peace, that's it. That's why we young people are not that into politics. Because in Cote d'Ivoire, in Africa, politics means war fighting and stuff. We don't have democratic politics in Cote d'Ivoire. That's unfortunate, as that's super important."
For all these reasons, Flavio, who still has three to study to get his degree, says he would rather like to go abroad, work in English, and start a business.
Many in Abidjan agree that life remains hard for the average Ivorians.
Though the city's economy is booming and infrastructures are growing, like the first urban train currently under construction and flyovers which radically improved traffic, some deplore they simply cannot get better jobs.
"I don't want to be a taxi driver here in Abidjan, away from my family", a young Yango driver told me. "I hope we can have a president that creates good jobs for young people like us."
Another deplores the lack of alternatives. "Thiam and Gbagbo should have been able to run," another driver told me. "And it is a shame that a president can change the constitution to prolong his mandate, and that he can ban any form of opposition's protest."
The lack of alternative could cause justified anger, says Hyacinthe Bley, a historian at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University. Excluded candidates have called their supporters to march to protest against their exclusion, but these marches and protests were strictly banned.
"The authorities should let them express their anger, or else they will think that the current government just uses all means for repression to their advantage," he told me. "That cannot be good for a peaceful election."
The historian says this could lead to some boycott of the vote or voters' apathy.
Ouattara has nonetheless brought Côte d'Ivoire in a remarkable state, both economically and socially, and many young people also recognise his achievements.
After holding a rally in the centre of the country, he came back to Abidjan to host two meetings at the main stadium in the neighbourhood of Le Plateau, the business district where most skyscrapers can be found, overlooking the laguna. One meeting was dedicated to young people.
"After President Houphouet-Boigny, only President Ouattara has worked, practically speaking. So, people realise that he is the one able to move the country forward," a supporter told me.
Pascal Kobena came for the future of his children.
"Ouattara does everything so the country can move forward in terms of development, in terms of peace, and to guarantee the security of Ivorians, property and the people who live there," he told me.
The most privileged students tend to agree. Some bitterly remember that political divisions only brought violence and division and are not ready to risk peace for politicians' careers.
But these ones see president ADO as the solution, like some of the "ADO girls" and "Mums for Ouattara", who came to his meetings on Saturday and Sunday at the stadium.
"We don't change a team that wins!" a woman supporter told me.
These people express a choice for stability. While others might not vote at all, saying they have no real choice.
The first round of the presidential election is this Saturday 25 October 2025. 8.7 million voters are called to the polls.
Most political observers expect Ouattara to be reelected straight away, without even a second round, for a fourth mandate.
Writing about young people's expectations for this presidential election...
Article to come on Friday on RFI English.
Here at a meeting in the Félix Houphouët Boigny stadium last Saturday:
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More soon
As Côte d’Ivoire heads to the polls next weekend, 21-year-old economics student Flavio Kouna shares his worries about jobs, politics, and the lingering scars of past conflict:
Watch here:
Côte d'Ivoire Elections 2025 * RFI English
Oeuvres de Marie Claire Messouma Malanbien à la galerie Cécile Fakhoury d'Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, dans le cadre de l'expositions collective 'Le seuil de nos azurs', présentée du 11 octobre 2025 au 3 janvier 2026 :
Superbe galerie d'art!
How Côte d’Ivoire mobilises to fight false news and foreign influence
Disinformation and foreign influence are viewed as real risks for the Côte d’Ivoire 2025 presidential election, according to several reports and analyses pointing to vulnerabilities, while some efforts being made to counter them. Melissa Chemam report from Abidjan, talking to media experts, historians and fact-checking specialists.
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This year only, concern was raised in Côte d'Ivoire mostly about false narratives spreading on social media, especially Twitter, TikTok and Facebook, including AI-generated content. Some report violence at protests; others unfair campaigning.
Alongside growing domestic tensions, international observers have also raised concern about possible foreign interference.
Analysts warn that Côte d’Ivoire is the target of foreign intrusion risk and influence operations, especially by Russia, to sway political narratives, like the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which published a report in March this year.
Social media’s deformation
Joel Djaha is a PhD candidate in Abidjan, affiliated to the PCA centre and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University. He thinks there is a real risk of fake news and rumours spreading. According to him, the last presidential election was held in a context marked by both health and political issues, including Covid-19, and that didn’t help keeping information accurate.
“On digital social networks, particularly TikTok, there are a lot of rumours and misinformation circulating about possible violence and forms of destabilisation that would take place or are currently taking place,” he told me.
“From my experience, they come mainly from web activists, who are politically marked, whether they are from opposition parties or the party in power. There's a density of information surrounding these rumours circulating, on Twitter notably, and which are shared by profiles that belong to these different camps.”
These essentially fuel debates in the pre-election context, and can even affect readership.
“So, it's all these elements put together, dissemination of false information, the influence of rumours, fake news, and more, that are aimed at the presidential election of October 2025,” Djaha added.
Assane Diagne, French-language editor-in-chief of The Conversation and former editor-in-chief of the fact-checking platform Africa Check, acknowledge that when Ivorians go on social media, they get the impression that the situation could explode at any moment...
"I'll just give one example: a highly visited Facebook page in Côte d'Ivoire, which recently presented a video that went viral. A video claimed to be proof of a strong mobilisation with hundreds of people running and singing. The same video was posted last week by Malagasy internet users. Upon verification, this video is filmed in Haiti," he told me.
According to Dr Hyacinthe Bley, a historian at the Houphouët-Boigny University, false information and foreign influence are also an issue because the ruling party, RHDP, which is supporting President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a fourth mandate, won’t let the opposition express their anger at the absence of leading opposition candidates, notably Tidjane Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo.
“Their supporters have called to march to protest against their exclusion,” he told me, “and the authorities should let them express their anger, or else they will think that the current government just uses all the means for repression to their advantage, and that cannot be good for a peaceful election.”
Bley understands that, in such a context, parts of the opposition’s supporters try to amplify their anger.
In 2023, the government launched a major national digital education campaign – named #OnlineAllResponsible –, to raise citizens' awareness of manipulation. Its slogans, including "Don't believe everything you see online" and "Stop the digital wizardry", aim to strengthen information resilience in the face of extremist discourse.
Finally, the last issue is the one of foreign influence. According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute report, the growing tide of pan-African sovereignty across sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the Sahel, is reshaping regional alliances and challenging traditional foreign influence. And many in post-coup Traoré-led Burkina Faso have reported rumours about violence in Côte d’Ivoire.
Diagne says this election is of interest beyond Côte d'Ivoire. "It interests all of West Africa, and Africa in general. Particularly for two reasons: the country's economic weight in the region, especially in the WAEMU zone, which is an integrated area."
But many actors in civil society organisations have called for calm, and warned about false rumours from or about Burkina, not only disinformation coming from the country but also about accusing the junta-led country of potential destabilisation in Côte d’Ivoire.
“Burkina Faso has enough problems,” Bley states, “and many Burkinabè live here in Côte d’Ivoire, so any backlash against them could be really bad for Ouagadougou. That’s why I don’t believe Burkina has any interest in destabilising Côte d’Ivoire.”
Precedents
Such foreign influence may include support for certain parties or candidates—directly or indirectly—and through information campaigns.
The credibility of false information is due to Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral history which has been marred by turmoil, especially the 2010 presidential race, when Alassane Ouattara challenged then then incumbent President Gbagbo.
“Despite Ouattara securing 54 percent of the vote, Gbagbo contested the results, triggering a post-electoral crisis that left over 3,000 civilians dead in violent clashes between rival supporters. A military intervention led to Gbagbo’s arrest and subsequent twenty-year sentence by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity,” the report recalls.
Then in 2015, Gbagbo’s party, the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI), boycotted the vote, claiming the process was rigged, thereby facilitating Ouattara’s re-election.
And in 2020, the sudden death of Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the ruling party’s designated candidate, prompted Ouattara to run for a controversial third term. That election, held in a climate of heightened tensions, saw lies, widespread disruptions, the closure of polling stations, and low voter turnout.
Some elements of disinformation or attacks also previously focused on identity / “Ivoirité” (who is truly Ivorian), regarding nationality, foreign parentage, etc. And Ivoirians really fear violence coming back, so it is important for eveyone to debunk false accusations.
For example, some accusations were spread around Tidjane Thiam’s origins and dual nationality. These identity-based controversies are potent because they tap into issues that have caused political conflict in Côte d’Ivoire’s past.
Organised efforts to counter false information
This year, as four candidates defy President Ouattara - Jean-Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello, Simone Ehivet, Henriette Lagou, the two main opponents, Tidjane Thiam and Larent Gbagbo remain excluded from the race and called for protests and marches, which were strictly banned and dispersed.
Reports of violence from such protests are at the core of amplified rumours.
However, Ivorians authorities and their regional partners are doing their best to educate voters on false information and dangerous influences.
Ecowas has also organised training for media professionals and civil society to deal with misinformation.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) has done a pre-election assessment and noted that lack of transparency, disinformation, and foreign malign influence are among stakeholders’ concerns.
For Mohamed Kebe, a journalist, fact-checking specialist and media consultant, sensibility to false rumours depends on the side of the political spectrum people are on.
"If you're in the opposition and your party produces false information, even if you think it's false, you choose to believe it because it follows an agenda. It's the same for the ruling party," he told me.
"But overall, the authorities have put in place the right mechanism to crack down on anyone who produces false information. Added to this, there are organisations like IvoireCheck that fight against false information on a daily basis."
Kebe confirms that several pieces of false information currently being shared on social media have AES designations. "It's very important to take them seriously. Because these issues can be a source of serious tension," he adds.
"How can we influence the citizen? It's through media education," Diagne adds. "How can we make good use of social media? It can help raise awareness and raise consciences. Beyond the fact-checking work that journalists are doing on the subject."
Djaha also says that not everyone is sensitive to false information and influence.
“Ivorians have knowledge of the cyberspace, of what happens the day before the elections and what is being said,” he told me. “They have a culture of digital reading and I think that it won't really have too much influence.”
There have been quite a few actions taken by the public prosecutor as well, he reminds us. “So, in my opinion, I don't think that the false information that is circulating will be able to influence the electorate in the slightest.”
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My visual insight, from our trip yesterday:
