Ivory Coast: Presidential election to be held on schedule: Oct 2015 – President Allasane Ouattara

The Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) is working to move away from it’s bitter past as the country consolidates its democratic gains.

According to the country’s president Allassane Ouattara, the next presidential election will be held in October 2015.

Presidential spokesperson Kady Traore confirmed that Ouattara announced the election date in Bouake in the north. Ouattara did not confirm if he would seek re-election in 2015, however he insisted that he would not try to recover time lost while being unable to claim office during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis.

In the previous presidential election in November 2010 victory was claimed by the two top contenders — current President Allasane Ouattara and then incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo. This sparked a crisis – which ended when Gbagbo was arrested on April 11, 2011, and later sent for trial to the International Court of Justice.