Romain Francis Wodié (born 25 February 1936UN document on election of a member of the International Court of Justice, including Wodié's curriculum vitae as a candidate
17 September 2001., abidjan.net .) is an Ivorian politician. A professor and human rights activist, he led the

Ivorian Workers' Party The Ivorian Party of Workers (french: Parti ivoirien des travailleurs, PIT) is a centre-left democratic socialist and social democratic, political party in Ivory Coast. It is led by Francis Wodié and was founded on April 8, 1990. The PIT ran ...

(PIT) from 1990 to 2011. During that time, Wodié served as a Deputy in the

National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire The National Assembly is lower house of the Parliament of Ivory Coast since November 2016. From 1960 to 2016, the National Assembly was Ivory Coast's unicameral legislative body. Evolved from semi-representative bodies of the French Colonial p ...

from 1990 to 1995 and as Minister of Higher Education from 1998 to 1999. He was President of the Constitutional Council of Côte d'Ivoire from 2011 to 2015.

Biography

Wodié was born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

. He attended primary school in M'Bahiakro and secondary school in Abidjan. Afterwards he studied law in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

, and in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

and

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Association of Ivorian Students in France. In July 1961, he was arrested "for endangering the safety of the State of Côte d'Ivoire in France", expelled from France, and placed under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

in Abidjan. Following his release in January 1962, he continued his studies in France. After completing his studies, he returned to Côte d'Ivoire, where he began teaching at the University of Abidjan. He was a founding member of the National Union for Research and Higher Education (SYNARES) and was its Secretary-General. In March 1971, he was accused of "subversive activities", and as a result he lived in exile in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

until August 1973.Page on Wodié
on PIT website . Wodié was the dean of the faculty of law at the University of Abidjan from 1980 to 1986. He was also a founding member of the Ivorian League of Human Rights, and from 1985 to 1989, he was President of the Ivorian section of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

. He was a founding member of the PIT in April 1990 and led the party from the time of its formation as its First National Secretary. In May 1990, referring to the spread of multiparty politics in Africa, which was previously dominated by single-party regimes, Wodié said that "establishing a multiparty system is only a step on the way to democracy, not an end in itself". Wodié was the only PIT candidate to win a seat in the November 1990 parliamentary election."Nov 1990 - Legislative elections", ''Keesing's Record of World Events'', volume 36, November 1990, international, page 37,841. He won the seat for the

Cocody Cocody (, ) is a suburb of and one of the 10 urban communes of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is upmarket and has an abundance of mansions. Cocody is where most of the wealthy businesspeople, ambassadors, and other affluent people live in Abidjan. The U ...

district in Abidjan, prevailing over two candidates from the ruling

Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

(PDCI) and a candidate from the opposition

Ivorian Popular Front The Ivorian Popular Front (french: Front populaire ivoirien; abbr. FPI) is a centre-left, democratic socialist and social democratic political party in Ivory Coast. FPI was founded in exile in 1982 by history professor Laurent Gbagbo, Aboudram ...

(FPI). After the election results were announced, showing that the PDCI had won an overwhelming parliamentary majority, Wodié said that he found the results "difficult to believe", because they suggested that the opposition was less popular than he thought; to explain the outcome, he pointed to low turnout among voters, arguing that many people failed to vote in the belief that the PDCI would win through fraud. Wodié served in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

until losing his seat in the 1995 parliamentary election. As the only candidate standing against President

Henri Konan Bédié Aimé Henri Konan Bédié (born 5 May 1934) is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Ivory Coast from 1993 to 1999. He is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast - African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA).

in the October 1995 presidential election, which was boycotted by other opposition parties,Elections in Côte d'Ivoire
African Elections Database. Wodié won 3.52% of the votes. In the government named on 11 August 1998, Wodié was appointed as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Explaining his decision to join the government, Wodié said that, although the PIT was an opposition party, it also favored consultations enabling the party to contribute to national development. He remained in his ministerial post until Bédié was ousted in the military coup of 24 December 1999. Along with other ministers, Wodié was detained following the coup, but he was released on 28 December. In February 2000, Wodié announced his candidacy for the October 2000 presidential election. In this election, Wodié placed third with 5.7% of the votes. At the time of the 2000 election, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

characterized him as "an intellectual without a strong national following". Having served as the First National Secretary of the PIT since the time of its Constitutive Congress, Wodié was instead elected as President of the PIT at the party's 3rd Ordinary Congress in August 2004. Wodié stood again as the PIT candidate in the October 2010 presidential election, but he attracted minimal support. He and his party backed

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician who has been President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Paul Yao N'Dre Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, a loyalist of Ouattara's ousted opponent

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( Mamadou Koné Mamadou Koné (born 25 December 1991) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Belgian First Division B club Deinze. Club career Born in Bingerville, Koné was a youth product of local ES Bingerville. He moved to Rac ...

on 20 February."Côte d'Ivoire: Conseil constitutionnel, Francis Wodié quitte définitivement la présidence"
Koaci, 20 February 2015 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wodie, Francis 1936 births Living people Government ministers of Ivory Coast Members of the National Assembly (Ivory Coast) Ivorian Workers' Party politicians People from Abidjan 20th-century Ivorian lawyers Academic staff of Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Ivorian human rights activists Ivorian exiles Ivorian expatriates in Algeria Ivorian judges Chief justices Constitutional court judges 21st-century Ivorian lawyers