But the 83-year-old leader faces mounting questions over his age and succession plan, as well as widespread cynicism over a presidential vote that many voters swerved after his two greatest rivals were barred from standing against him.

His entourage is adamant that Ouattara wanted to face his predecessor and bitter foe, Laurent Gbagbo, as well as ex-Credit Suisse banker Tidjane Thiam at the ballot box on Saturday "to batter them once and for all".

Yet the opposition believes Ouattara did all in his power to avoid a contest he could have lost.

The courts barred both Gbagbo and Thiam from running, the first for a criminal conviction and the second for questions over his French nationality.

Ouattara could have intervened by granting amnesty to Gbagbo and overturning Thiam's exclusion by decree.

But the president declined, insisting he did not want to interfere in a matter for the courts -- which his critics accuse him of rigging anyway.

- Rallies banned -

A minister in Ouattara's government argued that "Thiam and Gbagbo could have turned to plan B" and fielded proxy candidates instead.

But neither of their parties contemplated the prospect, nor that of a true anti-Ouattara common front at the polls.

The few joint rallies they organised against Gbagbo and Thiam's exclusions were eventually banned, which the authorities justified through unspecified references to "terrorist" or insurrectional plots.

Meanwhile Thiam, out of the country since March, failed in his mission to convince international leaders to pressure Ouattara to open up the election.

While he slammed the vote as "an electoral heist", Gbagbo for his part has hinted at his desire to retire from frontline politics in the near future.

Ouattara thus found himself as the sole credible candidate for president.

- No clear successor -

Winning big against a weakened field has become an Ouattara habit -- his first two bids for re-election in 2015 and 2020 saw him take massive vote shares of 83 and 94 percent.

Credit is due in part to his party, the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP), which has forged itself into an implacable campaigning machine since he came to power.

Backed by its colossal resources, the RHDP has taken the reins of a vast majority of the country's regions and communes, including many former opposition strongholds.

Each weekend for the last two years, ministers and activists alike have criss-crossed their regions to lay the foundations for a fourth Ouattara term.

As a result, the RHDP steamroller is threatening to flatten the opposition into the ground, with December's general election poised to degenerate into a full-blown rout.

But Ouattara, who remains the glue holding his party together while in his ninth decade, has yet to name a successor.

His allies point to the passing of the baton to Amadou Gon Coulibaly for the 2020 vote as evidence that he "tried", before Coulibaly's death forced a rethink.

While the president has since insisted he has around a half-dozen potential successors in mind, "no one ticks all the boxes," a source close to Ouattara told AFP.

- Youth 'disenchantment' -

But the question of his succession plan will become ever more pressing as his five-year mandate rumbles on.

Fears over the 83-year-old's age have been consistently dismissed by his party's senior figures. So too have questions over his ability to speak to Ivory Coast's overwhelmingly young population.

While three-quarters of Ivorians are under the age of 35, the country has yet to see a mass protest movement sparked by aggrieved youths akin to the "Gen Z" rallies elsewhere in Africa.

"The political class as a whole no longer knows how to talk to young people," said sociologist Severin Yao Kouame, pointing to a "genuine electoral disenchantment".

"Young people don't feel bothered by anything, precisely because there are no political options available to them," he added.

Though Ouattara came out on top in every department in the country, only 3.7 million Ivorians voted for him on Saturday -- just under 45 percent of the registered voters, but a fraction of the country's around 30 million people.

While around 10 people died, the 2025 ballot passed off largely without incident, especially compared to the 2010-11 electoral crisis during which around 3,000 were killed.

Ouattara's critics, however, will argue that his win was the function of a rigged election, lacking either a serious challenger or popular support.

At an Abidjan crossroads on Sunday evening, a police officer checking the few cars on the road summed up the mood as follows: "The country is under control."

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Credit Suisse