Following months of speculation, the Ivory Coast president, Alassane Ouattara, has confirmed his decision to seek re-election in the country’s upcoming October polls. He did this by formally accepting the ruling party’s nomination to be its candidate, defying opponents who say the constitution forbids a third term.

While Ouattara, who has governed since 2011, had previously announced in March he will not run again, leaving the country open to the leadership of a younger generation, his recent decision seems to be motivated by the death of the party’s presidential candidate and his preferred successor, then-prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, which led the party to ask Ouattara to reconsider.

“I have decided to respond favourably to the call of my fellow citizens,” Ouattara said in a televised speech. “Given my previous promise, this decision represents a real sacrifice for me.”

His opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bans him from running again, but Ouattara has cited the fact that the country’s new constitution was adopted in 2016, which inadvertently cancels out his first two mandates. Still, the opposition party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), called his decision to run “deplorable.” FPI spokesman, Issiaka Sangare, added: “Ivory Coast could have given another signal that would have allowed democracy to continue.”

This announcement comes right after Ivory Coast picked Defence minister, Hamed Bakayoko as the newly appointed Prime Minister replacing the late Coulibaly.

Ouattara’s other main challenger will be Henri Konan Bedie, who was president from 1993-1999 and is the confirmed candidate of one of the country’s largest parties, the PDCI. This election will be one of the hotly contested polls in Africa and a measure of the country’s ability to accept change, having experienced a brief civil war in 2010 and 2011 that killed about 3,000 people following Ouattara’s first election win.

The first round of polling will be held on October 31st this year.;