Do we like them?

Do we like Alassane Ouattara?

Our score: 4 out of 10. Real growth and poverty gains on one side, barred rivals, protest arrests and a government cold on LGBTQ+ safety on the other.

Ouattara is a technocrat first. He started as an IMF economist, and he is the man who has run Côte d'Ivoire since 2010, the world's biggest cocoa grower. His arrival came out of the contested 2010 presidential election, whose result sparked months of deadly violence.

On the economy he has a genuine case. GDP more than doubled between 2010 and 2019, and the poverty rate fell from 55.4 per cent in 2011 to 39.5 per cent in 2018. The World Bank still said “Poverty remains a challenge”, and because the population grew, roughly 10 million people are still poor.

The stoush is over power. A 2016 constitutional change reset the term limit, he won a third term in 2020, and in July 2025 he announced a fourth, having earlier said he wouldn't run again. Opponents call that consolidating power; he said he had “received numerous calls from fellow citizens” and would act in the nation's best interest.

The 2025 vote was lopsided. Tidjane Thiam was barred by a court over his past French citizenship, and Laurent Gbagbo was removed over a criminal conviction. Ahead of the October poll, at least 237 people were arrested at a banned march, and the interior minister said they would be held accountable. Ouattara won nearly 90 per cent, and critics said the process wasn't inclusive.

Accountability after 2011 is a sore spot. Human Rights Watch said a year after the Duékoué massacre, which it attributed to pro-Ouattara forces, no one had been credibly investigated, while over 120 from the pro-Gbagbo camp had been charged. It concluded that “justice is serving only the victors”. His camp disputed the earlier findings.