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| - Four candidates have been authorised to take part in the October 31 presidential election in Ivory Coast, where tensions remain high a decade after a vote that led to a civil conflict that claimed more than 3,000 lives. Following are pen portraits of the four, whose bids were approved on Monday, and of two candidates who were rejected but who are likely to wield major influence from the sidelines: The victor in the 2010 election and the war that followed, Ouattara was re-elected for another five-year term in 2015, vowing to restore stability and prosperity to the shaken country. He had promised to hand over power but in July his plans fell apart after his hand-picked successor, prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died of a sudden heart attack. At the age of 78, Ouattara chose to run again, arguing that a 2016 revision of the constitution reset the two-term limit to zero -- a view backed by the Constitutional Council, the country's top court. Violence erupted in August, leaving around 15 dead, when he announced his candidacy. Ouattara will campaign on his economic policy, which has enabled Ivory Coast, a major exporter of coffee and cacao, to regain its lustre as regional powerhouse. Critics say he has turned a blind eye to entrenched corruption, and that economic growth has failed to trickle down to the poor. Former president Bedie, 86, is the flagbearer of the country's main opposition, the Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI). Bedie became head of state in 1993 following the death of longtime ruler Felix Houphouet-Boigny and was re-elected in 1995. He was deposed in a coup in December 1999, the country's first since independence from France in 1960, and troubled elections were held the following October. Bedie's main influence in national politics has been to promote "Ivoirite" (Ivorian-ness) -- the notion of a national identity and national economy in a country with dozens of ethnic groups. Bedie came in third in the 2010 presidential elections, behind Ouattara and the then incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo. He supported Ouattara in the post-election crisis and for his first six years in power. Bedie is nicknamed "The Sphinx of Daoukro" for his wiliness, although adversaries say he is too old for the top job. The 67-year-old N'Guessan was prime minister from 2000 to 2003 under Gbagbo. Head of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) founded by Gbagbo, he came in second in the 2015 elections with 9.2 percent of the vote. He is at odds with Gbagbo diehards -- a faction in the party called GOR (the acronym in French for "Gbagbo Or Nothing"). Known by his initials as KKB, Bertin, 51, fell out with Bedie and the PDCI in 2015 and ran as an independent, coming in third with 3.8 percent of the vote. His strategy is to pitch to PDCI members who are opposed to Bedie's candidacy and to voters alienated by the years-long domination of the national stage by Ouattara, Bedie and Gbagbo. The Constitutional Court has rejected 40 other candidacies, including those of Gbagbo, 75, president from 2000-10, and former rebel leader turned prime minister Guillaume Soro, 47. Gbagbo has never taken a public position on running for the election, although his supporters filed an application in his name to the election board. The bid was rejected on the grounds that he was handed a 20-year jail term in absentia by an Ivorian court last November over the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States during the post-election crisis. Gbagbo was freed conditionally by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after he was cleared in January 2019 of crimes against humanity. He is living in Brussels pending the outcome of an appeal against the ICC ruling. Soro provided military help that enabled Ouattara to come to power during the 2010-11 election crisis. He became prime minister, then speaker of the National Assembly, but fell out with Ouattara in early 2019. His election application was rejected for a 20-year sentence, also in absentia, for alleged embezzlement of public funds handed down in April. bur-pgf/fjb/ri/gd
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