Ivory Coast vice president resigns, days after PM’s death

Ivory Coast’s Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan has resigned, President Alassane Ouattara’s office said on Monday.

The secretary-general of the presidency, Patrick Achi told reporters that Kablan Duncan, who previously served as Ouattara’s prime minister, was leaving for personal reasons.

His resignation comes days after the sudden death last week of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who was also the ruling party’s candidate for October’s presidential election.

Reports stated that leaders from Ivory Coast’s ruling party agreed at a closed-door meeting late Wednesday to press President Alassane Ouattara to seek a third term in October’s presidential election following the sudden death of Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

Ouattara announced in March that he would not stand for re-election after 10 years in office and designated his closest ally prime minister Gon Coulibaly, as the RHDP party’s candidate.

Gon Coulibaly’s death last Wednesday, less than a week after he returned to Ivory Coast from an extended medical leave in France for heart issues, left the RHDP scrambling to choose a replacement.

A formal leadership meeting is in the works ahead of the July 31 candidate submission deadline.

The election is expected to be the most hotly contested since 2010, when Ouattara’s victory over Laurent Gbagbo sparked a brief civil war in which 3,000 people died.