In a statement read by chief of staff Patrick Achi on Monday, Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan “handed his resignation to the president on personal grounds on 27 February.”
“After several conversations, the latest of which took place on 7 July, the President accepted and on 8 July signed the decree ending Mr. Kablan Duncan’s duties.”
Achi added: “The president of the republic would like to pay tribute to a great servant of the state, a man of duty and commitment.”
Rumours had been circulating for several days that the 77 year-old Vice President would be leaving the office.
READ MORE Côte d’Ivoire: Death of Prime Minister leaves political void
Ouattara had finally accepted Duncan’s request for resignation last Wednesday; the same day Gon Coulibaly died after a cabinet meeting.
Political life
A constant figure on the Ivorian political scene, Duncan’s departure will leave another hole for Ouattara as he struggles to prepare his party for the upcoming elections and his departure from the presidency.
In January 2017, Duncan became the first vice president in the country’s history after the post was created under a new constitution adopted in 2016.
Prior to that, he was prime minister in charge of economy and finance from 2012 to 2017, and then before then foreign minister from 2011-2012.
Some analysts say that Duncan’s resignation goes back to the moment Ouattara overlooked him and Marcel Amon Tanoh, the former foreign minister, in favour of Coulibaly as his successor.
Important in dissecting Duncan's resignation as Cote d'Ivoire's VP is that tensions between him and Ouattara were high before Coulibaly's death. There were rumours the fallout began when Ouattara overlooked both his VP and Marcel Amon Tanoh in favour of Coulibaly as his successor
— Ryan Cummings (@Pol_Sec_Analyst) July 13, 2020
Tanoh himself resigned on 19 March following Coulibaly’s nomination.
President Ouattara and the RHDP
The departure of Duncan, coupled with the unexpected death of Coulibaly leaves a rather unsettling situation for the ruling party.
READ MORE Côte d’Ivoire’s RHDP party seeks new candidate after Coulibaly’s death
It is scrambling now to find a suitable candidate for the ruling party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix – RHDP), given Ouattara chose Coulibaly as his preferred successor for the upcoming polls scheduled for 31 October.
Ouattara had announced that he would not be running for a third term in the elections, to the surprise of many. “Ten years in power is more than enough, and I have a history of keeping my commitments,” he told Jeune Afrique.
READ MORE Alassane Ouattara: ‘I did it my way’
The question that many are now asking, is in light of both Coulibaly and now Duncan gone, will Ouattara rescind on his promise and run for a third term?
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