The party was established in 1946 as a successor to the Patriotic Action Committee of Ivory Coast (Comité d'Action Patriotique de la Côte d'Ivoire, CAPACI),[1] which had supported Kouamé Benzème in the French National Assembly elections in 1945. The main leaders of the PPCI were Kacou Aoulou, Joseph Coffi, Julien Yacobi and Etty Arthur.[2]