Ivorian citizens are called to the polls this Saturday, October 25, 2025, to elect their President of the Republic for the next five years. Approximately 8.7 million voters will participate in this two-round election in this French-speaking West African country to choose their new president from among five candidates approved by the Constitutional Council: incumbent President Alassane Ouattara, Madam Simone Éhivet Gbagbo, Mr. Jean-Louis Billon, Mr. Ahoua Don Mello, and Madame Henriette Lagou Adjoua.

A delegation from the joint ECOWAS-African Union Mission led by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and including Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, head of the African Union delegation, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner of the African Union’s Department of Political Affairs and Peace, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Fanta Cissé, ECOWAS Resident Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, and several other ECOWAS and African Union officials visited several polling stations and offices in the municipalities of Cocody, Abobo, and Koumassi in Abidjan to observe the effective start of operations.

Another ECOWAS delegation led by H.E. Baboucarr Blaise Ismaïla JAGNE visited other polling stations in Abidjan, the economic capital and largest city in the country.

At midday, Prof. Osinbajo received a briefing from ECOWAS experts in the ECOWAS situation room and those of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP-Côte d’Ivoire) electoral platform.

Taking stock of the elections at midday after the field visits and a report from the ECOWAS long-term observation team, the head of the joint ECOWAS-AU mission praised the turnout of voters, including women, and the “calm and peaceful atmosphere” that prevailed throughout the day, before calling once again on the Ivorian people to persevere in this vein and to leave it to the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) to conduct the operations.

He also called on stakeholders to respect the results of the election as announced by the competent authority in accordance with the law, while urging them to exercise restraint, to seek consensus, and to resort only to legal channels in the event of a dispute.

In addition to ECOWAS, other institutions also deployed observers, including the African Union (AU), the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), and the Council of the Entente.

After compiling the reports of the 250 observers deployed by ECOWAS and the African Union in the field, the head of the ECOWAS Electoral Mission will hold a press conference on Monday, October 27, 2025, during which a preliminary statement on the conduct of the election will be presented to the public.