Pan African Visions

Ivory Coast’s Ouattara Won’t Seek Third Term, Spokesman Says

October 13, 2018

Ouattara suggested earlier this year he may run in 2020
Spokesman says ‘no ambiguity’ over Ouattara’s intentions

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Ouattara[/caption] Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara will step down after serving two terms and won’t run for a third term in elections due 2020, according to a government spokesman.

“It’s clear, there’s no speculation, no ambiguity,” deputy government spokesman Mamadou Toure said by phone Friday from the commercial capital, Abidjan.

Ouattara, 76, told the weekly magazine Jeune Afrique earlier this year that he’s still deciding whether to run again, saying a constitution adopted in 2016 allows him to extend his time in office. While Ivory Coast has a limit of two presidential terms, Ouattara’s Rally of the Republicans party says the new charter has reset the clock.

The interview came after Ouattara first appeared to reconsider earlier pledges to stick to two terms by saying “we’ll see what happens’’ when asked last year whether he would step down. In previous years, he was firm in saying he’d quit by 2020. *Bloomberg