Ivory Coast's ruling party named Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as its candidate for this year's presidential election.
The 61-year-old had been widely expected to succeed President Alassane Ouattara, who last week ruled out seeking a third term as head of the world's biggest cocoa grower. Opposition parties have yet to announce their candidates for the Oct. 31 ballot.
Coulibaly will be “a great president for Ivory Coast,” Ouattara said at a meeting of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace on Thursday in the commercial capital, Abidjan. A longtime Ouattara loyalist from the northern town of Korhogo, Coulibaly served as agriculture minister from 2002 to 2010 and as secretary general of the presidency from 2011 until his 2017 appointment as prime minister.
The elections will probably be the most tense since Ouattara assumed office in 2011, following a violent standoff with former President Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to accept defeat in a presidential vote five months earlier. Under Ouattara, the economy has expanded at an average annual pace of 7% since 2012.
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To contact the reporter on this story: Leanne de Bassompierre in Abidjan at ldebassompie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Renee Bonorchis
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