Ivory Coast to Name New Government After Ruling-Coalition Merger

(Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said he plans to name a new government as soon as his ruling coalition has merged into a single political party following an accord last month.

The new cabinet is to remain in place until the 2020 presidential elections, state-owned newspaper Fraternite Matin reported Monday, citing Ouattara, who spoke this weekend at a congress of his own party, the Rally of the Republicans.

Ouattara also called for a meeting to launch the new party, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, which has the same name as the ruling coalition. It was named after former President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who ruled the West African nation for 33 years.

“The founding congress will need to lay the foundation for the choice of our future candidate for the 2020 presidential election,” Ouattara said. “It will be a democratic choice.”

The six political parties that comprise the RHDP coalition signed an accord last month to merge into a single organization, a move that will consolidate its grip on the world's biggest cocoa producer and force the two biggest parties, the RDR and the former ruling Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, to agree on a candidate for the elections.

To contact the reporter on this story: Olivier Monnier in Abidjan at omonnier@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Renee Bonorchis

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