As President Alassane Ouattara prepares for a fourth term after winning last week's election in Côte d'Ivoire in a landslide, the exclusion of his two main challengers from the race has left the opposition splintered and voters disillusioned. With no successor lined up for the 83-year-old leader, observers are concerned about what might come when it's eventually time for power to change hands.
After judges barred both ex-president Laurent Gbagbo and prominent financier Tidjane Thiam from running in the 25 October poll, the first for a criminal conviction and the second for questions over his French nationality, Ouattara could have used his presidential powers to overturn the rulings. He did not.
