Monday, 20 Oct 2025
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy
  • Contact Us
Subscribe
Newsgrasp
  • Home
  • Today’s News
  • World
  • US
  • Nigeria News
  • Politics
  • 🔥
  • Today's News
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Nigeria News
  • Donald Trump
  • Israel
  • President Donald Trump
  • White House
  • President Trump
Font ResizerAa
NewsgraspNewsgrasp
Search
  • Home
  • Today’s News
  • World
  • US
  • Nigeria News
  • Politics
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
2025 © Newsgrasp. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo news home
Today's NewsWorld

Ivory Coast’s Ouattara looks to ride economic boom to fourth term

By Robbie Corey-Boulet
Last updated: October 17, 2025 7:43 am
By Robbie Corey-Boulet
Share
SHARE

By Robbie Corey-Boulet

ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Alassane Ouattara’s long path to becoming Ivory Coast president included two elections in which he was disqualified from running and a brief but brutal 2010-11 civil war spurred by his predecessor’s refusal to leave office.

Things have been easier since he took the top job in 2011, with landslide re-election wins in 2015 and 2020.

The 83-year-old former international banker hopes to replicate the feat for a third and potentially final time when West Africa’s biggest cocoa producer goes to the polls on October 25.

Ouattara’s supporters say his success at the ballot box reflects voter satisfaction with strong economic growth since he took office and a flurry of infrastructure projects, from new roads and interchanges to a more than 300-metre tower that dwarfs everything else in the city centre skyline.

His critics say it has just as much to do with restrictions on democratic activities, including what Amnesty International criticised on Thursday as a “disproportionate” ban on election-related protests.

The man who analysts say would be Ouattara’s biggest challenger, former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam, has been excluded after a court found he had French nationality when he registered, which is not permitted under Ivorian law.

Ouattara’s predecessor Laurent Gbagbo is barred because of a prior conviction.

Those who are allowed to contest do not have the backing of the country’s major political parties, hindering their ability to mobilise on a large scale, analysts said.

Instead, the four opposition candidates are heading up “makeshift coalitions” and are divided among themselves, said Cesar Flan Moquet, director of the Centre of Political Research of Abidjan, a think tank.

“All this means that these candidates do not really have a chance,” he said.

TURBULENT RISE TO THE TOP

Born in Dimbokro in central Ivory Coast on January 1, 1942, Ouattara received a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, then rose to deputy director of the International Monetary Fund.

He later became prime minister under founding President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, whose death in 1993 ushered in a more toxic period in Ivorian politics.

New electoral rules, including one requiring candidates to have lived in Ivory Coast for the previous five years, prevented Ouattara from running in the 1995 election.

He was excluded again in 2020 on the grounds that one of his parents was from Burkina Faso. Gbagbo, who won that election, called Ouattara “a candidate for the foreigners”.

A 2002 rebellion against Gbagbo split the country in two, leaving its northern half in the hands of rebels, many of them from Ouattara’s Dioula ethnic group.

The war was largely a result of xenophobic policies by successive Ivorian governments against migrant farmers from Burkina Faso and Mali that also targeted northern Ivorians with cultural ties to them.

For the 2010 election, Ouattara formed a pact with former President Henri Konan Bedie which helped secure his victory in the runoff against Gbagbo.

Fighting that erupted after Gbagbo rejected his defeat killed around 3,000 people before Ouattara was sworn in in April 2011.

Ouattara coasted to re-election in 2015 and 2020, though the latter vote was marred by clashes between rival supporters that killed 85 people.

UNCERTAINTY OVER WHO COMES NEXT

Tensions do not appear to be running as high as in 2020, when critics were more agitated over Ouattara’s argument that a new constitution approved in 2016 had reset his two-term limit.

The protest ban and the deployment of 44,000 security forces to prevent unrest will help stave off large-scale unrest, said West Africa political risk consultant Jessica Moody.

Ouattara is likely to spend a fourth term focused on economic targets, including making Ivory Coast a middle-income country by 2030, bringing a new Abidjan metro online and improving roads and electricity access.

There is also the question of who comes after him, which he tried to answer before the 2020 election by naming then-Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as his successor.

Coulibaly died several months later, and Ouattara went back on his promise to hand power to a new generation.

Choosing a new successor will be a thorny process given divisions within the ruling party, but it is not impossible, Moody said.

“I don’t think he lacks the motivation to stand down,” she said. “He will be 88 by the next election.”

(Reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Loucoumane Coulibaly, editing by Ed Osmond)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

TAGGED:Alassane OuattaraIvory CoastLaurent Gbagbo
Share This Article
Email Copy Link Print
Previous Article Yahoo news home A US senator claims ‘Christian mass murder’ is occurring in Nigeria. The data disagrees
Next Article Yahoo news home Georgia surplus hits $14.6B as lawmakers eye spending plans
Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your Trusted Source for Accurate and Timely Updates!

Our commitment to accuracy, impartiality, and delivering breaking news as it happens has earned us the trust of a vast audience. Stay ahead with real-time updates on the latest events, trends.
FacebookLike
XFollow
InstagramFollow
LinkedInFollow
MediumFollow
QuoraFollow
- Advertisement -
Ad image

You Might Also Like

Yahoo news home
Today's NewsUS

U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia

By UPI Staff
HYPREP
Nigeria NewsToday's News

HYPREP reports progress on restoring Ogoni cleanup confidenc

By Dennis Naku
Yahoo news home
Today's NewsWorld

Malawi’s ex-leader Mutharika projected to win election, Times TV reports

By Newsgrasp
Yahoo news home
Today's NewsWorld

Bulgaria arrests Russian owner of ship at center of Beirut port blast in 2020

By BASSEM MROUE
Newsgrasp
Facebook Twitter Youtube Rss Medium

About US


Newsgrasp Live News: Your instant connection to breaking stories and live updates. Stay informed with our real-time coverage across politics, tech, entertainment, and more. Your reliable source for 24/7 news.

Top Categories
  • Home
  • Today’s News
  • World
  • US
  • Nigeria News
  • Politics
Usefull Links
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise with US
  • Complaint
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Cookie Policy
  • Disclaimer

2025 ©️ Newsgrasp. All Right Reserved 

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?

%d