Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has said he would seek re-election in October, formally accepting the governing party’s nomination to be its candidate and defying opponents who say the constitution forbids a third term. Rejecting claims by his opponents who say a two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again.
Ouattara, who has governed since 2011, said in March he would not run again. But his preferred successor, then-Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died in July, leading the party to ask Ouattara to reconsider.
The election is seen as the greatest test yet of the tenuous stability achieved since a brief civil war in 2010 and 2011 killed about 3,000 people following Ouattara’s first election win.
“I have decided to respond favourably to the call of my fellow citizens,” Ouattara said in a televised speech on Thursday. “Given my previous promise, this decision represents a real sacrifice for me.”
His opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from running again, but Ouattara has said his first two mandates do not count under the new constitution adopted in 2016.
The opposition party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), called his decision to run “deplorable”.
FPI spokesman Issiaka Sangare added: “Ivory Coast could have given another signal that would have allowed democracy to continue.”
FPI is the party of Ivory Coast’s former president, Laurent Gbagbo.
On Saturday, it named his one-time Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan as its candidate, ending speculation Gbagbo might return from abroad to stand.
Gbagbo, freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, has applied for a passport so that he can return home for the election.
Gbagbo was acquitted of four counts of crimes against humanity over the 2010-2011 bloodshed: murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Prosecutors at the ICC are appealing his acquittal.
Ouattara’s other main challenger will be Henri Konan Bedie, who was president from 1993-1999 and is the confirmed candidate of one of the country’s largest parties, the PDCI.
The race is expected to be the most hotly contested since 2010, when Gbagbo’s refusal to step down after Ouattara’s victory sparked the deadly conflict.
Bedie has said he and Gbagbo have agreed that their parties would back the other’s candidate in the event of a second-round runoff against Ouattara.
The first round of polling will be held on October 31.
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