Hamed Bakayoko

Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko – long seen as the alternative had Ouattara not picked Gon Coulibaly – came back into the frame after the prime minister flew to Paris for emergency medical treatment on 2 May and concern grew that he might not be well enough to conduct an arduous campaign (AC Vol 61 No 12 Ouattara and son)...

Ivorian defence minister and caretaker premier Hamed Bakayoko claimed at a commemoration for the slain soldiers on 22 June that more arrests had been made including that of an unnamed 'leader'...

As interim premier – standing in for Gon Coulibaly while he is in Paris – Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko has further boosted his standing in the last month...

Condé's economic adviser Tibou Camara then hammered out the details with Hamed Bakayoko now the Ivorian temporary prime minister...

Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko long seen as the most likely alternative swallowed his pride and warmly defended the choice of Gon...

However Ouattara appears unconvinced that either of his two potential chosen successors – the politically wooden Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly and or the Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko – can be counted on to deliver victory and protect the RHDP legacy...

President Alassane Dramane Ouattara had signalled his readiness to retire but has now postponed a final decision until mid-next year as he faces up to the reality that none of his most trusted political heirs – Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly Vice-President Daniel Kablan Duncan and Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko – is an obvious potential election favourite...

Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly remains the favourite but Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko has never taken his eye off the ball...

These were hitherto seen as the RDR's Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly or Defence Minister Hamed Bakayoko and the PDCI vice-president Daniel Kablan Duncan or Energy Minister Thierry Tanoh or even the increasingly estranged Parliamentary Speaker Guillaume Soro (nominally RDR) (AC Vol 59 No 3 Jockeying for position and Vol 59 No 14 Move over grandad)...

The three protagonists will be former rebel leader and current Parliament Speaker Guillaume Soro defence minister and former presidential favourite Hamed Bakayoko and the latest anointed heir Amadou Gon Coulibaly the current Prime Minister...