Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara’s decision to seek re-election in October means the world’s top cocoa-producing nation will again have to wait on his promise to pass the baton to a new generation of political leaders.
But the 83-year-old former international banker is hoping a strong economy and a weak field of challengers will propel him to a fourth term, extending a period of relative stability after the civil war that brought him to power in 2011.
Ouattara made his announcement on Tuesday, saying his health was not an issue. With the country’s most high-profile opposition politicians ruled ineligible, he is the clear front-runner.
A U.S.-trained economist whose resume includes stints as governor of the West African central bank (BCEAO) and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ouattara has long pitched himself as a savvy technocrat capable of delivering steady growth.
The numbers back him up, with the IMF projecting GDP to increase to 6.3% this year, in line with the average over the past decade.
He has also proved himself to be a deft political operator, striking deals that have eased his two previous re-election bids and avoided a repeat of the widespread violence that followed his election win over predecessor Laurent Gbagbo in late 2010.
Gbagbo’s refusal to accept defeat in that contest triggered a brief civil war that killed more than 3,000 people and only ended with his arrest in a bunker at his Abidjan residence.
Ouattara’s “primary success has been on the macroeconomic side” and restoring Ivory Coast’s “international influence,” said political analyst Arthur Banga.
But “there are still democratic challenges to overcome,” he added, citing lingering fears of election-related violence. “This means there is work to be done to achieve normalcy.”
Born in Dimbokro in central Ivory Coast on January 1, 1942, Ouattara received a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
He earned a reputation for competent economic management as prime minister under founding President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, whose name evokes decades of agricultural export-led prosperity that built palm-lined boulevards and skyscrapers.
