Robert Guéï, who headed a transitional military regime following the December 1999 coup d'état, stood as a candidate in the election.

All of the major opposition candidates except for Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) were barred from standing.

The Rally of the Republicans (RDR) and Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RCA) boycotted the election in response to the exclusion of their candidates (Alassane Ouattara and Émile Constant Bombet [fr] respectively) by the Supreme Court.

Guéï initially claimed to have won the presidency in a single round.

When Guéï continued to insist he had won, a wave of protests drove him from power, and Gbagbo was sworn in as President.