President of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara has now named a close ally as his successor to head the ruling RHDP party.
Amadou Gon Coulibaly who is now the current prime minister will take over from Ouattara as the party’s candidate for the presidential election.
President Ouattara told a meeting in Abidjan, that Amadou Gon Coulibaly had the support of the the vast majority of party members.
Earlier this month, President Alassane Ouattara announced that he would not be seeking re-election, assuring that he would be ending his tenure this year.
Elections are due in October this year and many were worried in January when President Ouattara said he would make a final decision in July.
Ouattara told lawmakers that he would hand over power to a new generation after 10 years in office.
“I have decided not to be candidate in the Oct. 31 presidential election and to transfer power to a new generation,” Ouattara said in the capital Yamoussoukro last week.
President Ouattara was first elected in 2010 in an election that sparked a brief civil war when his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to concede defeat.
Around 3,000 people died in the violence. Political tensions have however been on the rise recently after the government issued an arrest warrant for Guillaume Soro.
Soro was a presidential candidate and former rebel leader whose forces helped push Ouattara to power in 2011.
There is no clear signal of who could challenge the ruling party’s candidate in the election.
Source: Africafeeds.com
