Ivory Coast is voting in a presidential election on Saturday with incumbent and strong favourite Alassane Ouattara, 83, claiming credit for nearly 15 years of economic growth and relative stability while hinting it will be his final campaign.
A former international banker and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ouattara took power in 2011 after a four-month civil war that killed around 3,000 people.
The war was triggered by the refusal of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, to acknowledge defeat in the 2010 election.
More than eight million people are registered to vote on Saturday. Polling stations close at 6 p.m. local time (1800 GMT). Provisional results are expected within five days. A runoff will be held if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.
SUCCESSION IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were deemed ineligible to run this year, and the
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