Côte d'Ivoire's Alassane Ouattara to seek fourth presidential term

Côte d'Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara said on Tuesday he will seek a fourth term in the West African country.

Ouattara, 83, has led Côte d'Ivoire since 2011.

He had been earlier officially nominated by his ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party as its candidate, but had not yet said if he would contest the October 25 election.

"I am a candidate because the constitution of our country allows me to run for another term and my health permits it," he said, adding that Côte d'Ivoire was "facing unprecedented security, economic, and monetary challenges, the management of which requires experience."

Tidjane Thiam, Laurent Gbagbo not in race

Côte d'Ivoire's two main opposition parties have launched a joint campaign to demand reinstatement of their barred leaders ahead of the presidential election.

This alliance brings together the African People's Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PPACI) – led by former President Laurent Gbagbo – and the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI), the country's largest opposition force, headed by former international banker Tidjane Thiam.

Gbagbo, his former right-hand man Charles Ble Goude and ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro have been struck from the electoral register due to criminal convictions.

Thiam was also excluded by the judiciary over nationality issues.

Former IMF staff member

Ouattara worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the West African regional bank BCEAO and entered politics when Côte d'Ivoire's founding President, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, appointed him to chair a body on economic recovery in the midst of an economic crisis.

As Houphouet-Boigny's health worsened, Ouattara assumed more and more responsibility for overseeing the country's affairs.

When the ailing president died in December 1993, Ouattara left Côte d'Ivoire to join the IMF.

In 1995, he joined the new Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party and planned on running as their presidential candidate.

Barred from running

But he was barred from doing so following new laws requiring both parents of a candidate to be of Côte d'Ivoire birth and for the candidate to have lived continuously in Côte d'Ivoire prior to an election.

Ouattara was barred from polls in 2000 on the same grounds.

Ouattara who was subjected to violence during the unrest, left the country but returned to contest an election in 2010.

Then-President Gbagbo's refusal to concede electoral defeat to Ouattara led to another period of unrest, in which more than 3,000 people were killed, before Ouattara became president in 2011.

ICC charges against Gbagbo

Gbagbo was acquitted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague but still has a conviction in Côte d'Ivoire stemming from the violent post-election crisis that ended his rule.

The opposition boycotted Côte d'Ivoire's 2020 vote and Ouattara won by a landslide.