Editing Laurent Gbagbo (section)

== Political career ==
During the 1982 strike, Koudou Gbagbo formed what would become the [[Ivorian Popular Front]] (FPI). He returned to Côte d'Ivoire on 13 September 1988 and at the FPI's constitutive congress, held on 19–20 November 1988, he was elected as the party's Secretary-General.<ref name=FPI/>

Gbagbo said in July 2008 that he had received crucial support from [[Blaise Compaoré]], formerly the President of [[Burkina Faso]], while he was part of the underground opposition to Houphouët-Boigny.<ref>[http://apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=70868 "Gbagbo acknowledges receiving underground support from Compaoré against Boigny"]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, African Press Agency, 29 July 2008.</ref>

Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1990, Gbagbo challenged Houphouët-Boigny in the [[1990 Ivorian presidential election|October 1990 presidential election]]. Gbagbo contended that Houphouët-Boigny, who was either 85 or 90 years old (depending on the source), was not likely to survive a seventh five-year term. This failed to resonate with voters, and Gbagbo officially received 18.3% of the vote against Houphouët-Boigny. In the [[1990 Ivorian parliamentary election|November 1990 parliamentary election]], Gbagbo won a seat in the [[National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire|National Assembly]], along with eight other members of the FPI.<ref name=FPI/><ref name=Mundt>Robert J. Mundt, "Côte d'Ivoire: Continuity and Change in a Semi-Democracy", ''Political Reform in Francophone Africa'' (1997), ed. Clark and Gardinier, pp. 191–192 {{ISBN|0-8133-2785-7}}</ref>

Gbagbo was elected to a seat from Ouragahio District in Gagnoa Department and was President of the FPI Parliamentary Group from 1990 to 1995.<ref name=FPI/> In 1992 he was sentenced to two years in prison and charged with inciting violence, but was released later in the year.<ref name=Mundt/> The FPI boycotted the [[1995 Ivorian presidential election|1995 presidential election]]. In 1996 Gbagbo was re-elected to his seat in the National Assembly from Ouragahio, following a delay in the holding of the election there, and in the same year he was elected as President of the FPI.<ref name=FPI/>
[[File:Le Président de la Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo et Vahid Halilhodzic, Sol Beni, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, 30.05.'08 (8932).jpg|thumb|The President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and Vahid Halilhodzic, Sol Beni, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire in May 2008]]
At the FPI's 3rd Ordinary Congress on 9–11 July 1999, Gbagbo was chosen as the FPI's candidate for the [[2000 Ivorian presidential election|October 2000 presidential election]].<ref name=FPI/> That election took place after a [[1999 Ivorian coup d'état|December 1999 coup]] in which retired general [[Robert Guéï]] took power. Guéï refused to allow his predecessor as president, [[Henri Konan Bédié]], or former prime minister [[Alassane Ouattara]] to run, leaving Gbagbo as the only significant opposition candidate. Guéï claimed victory in the election, held on 22 October 2000. However, after it emerged that Gbagbo had actually won by a significant margin, street protests forced Guéï to flee the capital. Gbagbo installed himself as president on 26 October.<ref>{{Harvnb|Frindethie|2016|p=102}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqEGulGWVdgC&pg=PA112|title=Grammars of Identity/alterity: A Structural Approach|last1=Baumann|first1=Gerd|last2=Gingrich|first2=André|date=15 November 2005|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=9781845451080|pages=112–41|language=en}}</ref>