Hamed Bakayoko

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...

Missing out was not just Bictogo but also Cissé Bacongo Hamed Bakayoko Amadou Soumahoro and party veteran Gilbert Koné Kafana the mayor of Abidjan's politically turbulent Yopougon suburb...

Hamed Bakayoko stays on as Interior and Security Minister and is still one of the favourites for Ouattara's job; Adama Koné keeps his Economy and Finance portfolio; Sansan Kambilé remains at Justice while Jean-Claude Brou stays at Mines and Industry and Bruno Nagbané Koné at Post Telecommunications and Information Technology and is also government spokesperson...