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 until losing his seat in the 1995 parliamentary election. As the only candidate standing against President Henri Konan Bédié in the October 1995 presidential election, which was boycotted by other opposition parties, 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 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 in the second round of the presidential election. The election produced an extended and violent dispute over the results; Ouattara eventually prevailed when forces loyal to him captured Abidjan in April 2011. Wodié stepped down as head of the PIT in 2011, but Ouattara then appointed him as President of the Constitutional Council on 25 July 2011; Wodié was appointed to replace Paul Yao N'Dre, a loyalist of Ouattara's ousted opponent Laurent Gbagbo. Wodié resigned as President of the Constitutional Council on 28 January 2015. He was succeeded by Mamadou Koné on 20 February. References 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