Party nudges 82-year-old Ivory Coast president to seek fourth term

The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), Ivory Coast’s ruling party, has backed a fourth term for President Alassane Ouattara.

Although the 82-year-old is yet to announce his intentions to run again, the party’s endorsement seems it is likely he will contest.

On Monday, top officials of the RHDP said they will do everything possible to ensure that the party, under Ouattara’s leadership, emerges as “the undisputed winner of the next presidential election”.

The elections are scheduled to hod in October 2025.

Reuters reports that three cabinet members, who asked to stay anonymous, said the party had no viable candidate besides Ouattara.

One who took part in the meeting said it had been called to convince Ouattara to stand.

“We’ve told him that supporters don’t want anyone else but him, and we’re aligning ourselves with this choice. He has no choice but to accept and be our candidate in 2025,” one of the officials was quoted as saying.

“It’s up to him to make an official statement when he wants to, but he knows that we’re already out in the field campaigning for him.”

In 2020, Ouattara, who has governed since 2011, said he would not run again. However, Amadou Coulibaly, former prime minister and his preferred successor, died months later.

The president said a constitutional court ruling in 2016 made him eligible to run again, and allowed him to reset the country’s two-term presidential limit.

However, Ouatarra’s third term bid sparked off protests and violent clashes before the election.

After results were announced, Laurent Gbagbo, his predecessor, refused to accept defeat, turning Abidjan, the country’s capital, into a battleground.

Gbagbo has reportedly expressed intentions to contest the 2025 presidential elections.