Francis Wodié

Romain Francis Wodié (born 25 February 1936) is an Ivorian politician. A professor and human rights activist, he led the Ivorian Workers' Party (PIT) from 1990 to 2011. During that time, Wodié served as a Deputy in the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire 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.

Wodié was born in Abidjan. He attended primary school in M'Bahiakro and secondary school in Abidjan. Afterwards he studied law in Dakar, Senegal, and in France at Poitiers and Caen. While in France, he was a member of the Executive Bureau of the 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 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 until August 1973.

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. 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".

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