The first multiparty presidential elections were held in October 1990 and Houphouët-Boigny won convincingly.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993 ), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was the first President of Côte d ' Ivoire.

Houphouët-Boigny maintained an ardently anti-communist foreign policy, which resulted in, among other things, severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1969 ( after first establishing relations in 1967 ) and reestablishing them in February 1986, refusing to recognise the People's Republic of China until 1983, and providing assistance to UNITA, a United States-supported, anti-communist rebel movement in Angola.

* January 30 – Kenya Airways suffers its first fatal accident when Kenya Airways Flight 431, the Airbus A310-304 Harambee Star, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Côte d ' Ivoire a minute after takeoff from Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan, killing 169 of the 179 people on board and injuring all 10 survivors.

Houphouët-Boigny claimed that these funds came from his private fortune.

These leaders, including leading nationalists such as Jomo Kenyatta ( Kenya ), Kwame Nkrumah ( Gold Coast, now Ghana ), Léopold Sédar Senghor ( Senegal ), and Félix Houphouët-Boigny ( Côte d ' Ivoire ), came to lead the struggles for independence.

In March 1983, President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and administrative capital of Côte d ' Ivoire, as the city was his birthplace.

Côte d ' Ivoire's contemporary political history is closely associated with the career of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, President of the republic and leader of the Parti Démocratique de la Côte d ' Ivoire ( PDCI ) until his death on December 7, 1993.

That same year, he founded the Comité Mixte Gabonais (; CMG ), a political party close to the African Democratic Rally ( RDA ), an inter-African party led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

On August 1, 1960, Maga traveled to Paris to discuss Dahomey's political future with Houphouët-Boigny.

The African Democratic Rally (, commonly known as the RDA ) was a political party in French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

Together with Ivorian leader Félix Houphouët-Boigny and others, he formed the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain ( RDA ) in 1946 and, in 1947, the Parti Progressiste Africain.

In May 1959, Houphouët-Boigny reinforced his position as a dominant figure in West Africa by leading Côte d ' Ivoire, Niger, Upper Volta ( Burkina ), and Dahomey ( Benin ) into the Council of the Entente, a regional organization promoting economic development.

was established as the sole legal student organization by the regime of Félix Houphouët-Boigny in 1965.

He won the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991, the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid.

Responsibility for the worsening of the situation is widely attributed to the Northern people, though the quality of life under Houphouët-Boigny was mainly due to the sponsoring through the " Françafrique " system ( designed to consolidate the influence of France in Africa ), and the economy worked mainly thanks to a low-paid Burkinabé working class and immigrants from Mali.

Gbagbo founded the Ivorian Popular Front ( FPI ) in 1982 and ran unsuccessfully for President against Félix Houphouët-Boigny at the start of multi-party politics in 1990.

That same year he received the 2007 UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, for " his lifetime contribution to world peace ".

On 14 September 2011 the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo received the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in Paris for their work in defense of Human Rights.

In 1989, UNESCO created the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for the " safeguarding, maintaining and seeking of peace ".

An economist by profession, Ouattara worked for the International Monetary Fund ( IMF )-where he rose to be deputy head-and the Central Bank of West African States (, BCEAO ), and he was the Prime Minister of Côte d ' Ivoire from November 1990 to December 1993, appointed to that post by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

In April 1990, Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny appointed Ouattara as Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Coordination of the Stabilization and Economic Recovery Programme of Côte d ' Ivoire ; while holding that position, Ouattara also remained in his post as BCEAO Governor.

The Yamoussoukro-based Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for peace

** President of Côte d ' Ivoire Félix Houphouët-Boigny dies at 83, the oldest African head of state.

Houphouët-Boigny was considerably more conservative than most African leaders of the post-colonial period, maintaining close ties to the west and rejecting the leftist and anti-western stance of many leaders at the time.

In 1955, the initial usage of the “ French Africa ” term, by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, of Côte d ' Ivoire, denoted positive social, cultural, and economic Franco – African relations.

The African leaders with close ties to France — especially during the Russo – American Cold War ( 1945 – 91 ) — acted more as agents of French business and geopolitical interests, than as the national leaders of sovereign states, such as Omar Bongo ( Gabon ), Félix Houphouët-Boigny ( Côte d ' Ivoire ), Gnassingbé Eyadéma ( Togo ), Denis Sassou-Nguesso ( Republic of the Congo ), Idriss Déby ( Chad ), and Hamani Diori ( Niger ).

Throughout his presidency, Houphouët-Boigny maintained a close relationship with France, a policy known as Françafrique, and he built a close friendship with Jacques Foccart, the chief adviser on African policy in the de Gaulle and Pompidou governments.

Initially a Pan-Africanist movement, the RDA ceased to function as a Pan-African party as Houphouët-Boigny turned hostile towards the idea of African federalism.

RDA ceased to function as a pan-African party as Houphouët-Boigny turned hostile towards the idea of African federalism.

Félix Houphouët-Boigny became the leader of the village in 1939.

After 1964, the President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made ambitious plans and started to build.

Also noteworthy are the Kossou Dam, the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation, the PDCI-RDA House, the various schools of the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny Polytechnic Institute, the international airport ( with an average of six hundred passengers and 36 flights in 1995, it is one of two airports in Africa ( with Gbadolite ) that could accommodate the Concorde ), the Town Hall, the Protestant Temple, the Mosque, and the Palace of Hosts.

** Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian president ( b. 1905 )

While he still was mayor of Paris ( since 1977 ), Chirac went to Abidjan ( Côte d ' Ivoire ) where he supported President Houphouët-Boigny ( 1960 – 1993 ), although the latter was being called a " thief " by the local population.

The conflict ended after mediation by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Ivory Coast.

Houphouët-Boigny died on December 7, 1993, and was succeeded by his deputy Henri Konan Bédié who was the President of the Parliament.

Frustration is now a dominant sentiment in the population, especially since the overall quality of life has dropped since the Félix Houphouët-Boigny era.

The pro-Socialist faction was led by Kwame Nkrumah, while Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast led the pro-capitalists.

He was an ardent supporter of longtime President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who in 1990 appointed him chief of the army following a mutiny.

After the death of Houphouët-Boigny in 1993, Guéï became distanced from the new leader Henri Konan Bédié.

He became a history professor and an opponent of the regime of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

Gbagbo said in July 2008 that he had received crucial support from Blaise Compaoré, currently the President of Burkina Faso, while he was part of the underground opposition to Houphouët-Boigny.

Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1990, Gbagbo was the only candidate to stand against Houphouët-Boigny in the October 1990 presidential election, receiving 18. 3 % of the vote against Houphouët-Boigny.