Prime Minister
Following a peace deal signed on 4 March 2007, it was considered a possibility that Soro would be named prime minister in a new government, and Gbagbo was said to want Soro as the next prime minister. In an interview published on 26 March, Soro said that he would be willing to become prime minister. An agreement was signed on the same day according to which Soro would become prime minister, and Gbagbo was expected to officially appoint him to the position, which he did on 29 March. Soro took office on 4 April, and his government was named on 7 April, with 32 ministers (excluding Soro himself); this was slightly fewer than in Banny's government, and Soro's government contained many of the same ministers as its predecessor.
In a speech broadcast on 13 April, Soro apologized "to everybody and on behalf of everybody" for the harm caused by the war.
Soro, as Prime Minister, was barred from standing in the 2010 presidential election by the peace agreement. Soro said in a March 2008 interview with Jeune Afrique that he would discuss his future political plans following the election. Rumors have suggested that Soro and Gbagbo have secretly agreed on an arrangement whereby Soro would support Gbagbo in the election and, in exchange, Gbagbo would back Soro in the subsequent presidential election; Soro derided these rumors as "gossip". Describing himself as an "arbiter of the electoral process", he said that the New Forces would not back any candidate and its members could vote for whomever they wished.
When the Gbagbo-allied Constitutional Council proclaimed the result of the 2010 poll and Gbagbo was sworn in, Soro resigned as prime minister, supporting opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara, who had been declared the winner by the electoral commission, politically closed to him. Ouattara reappointed Soro after taking the oath of office by writing at a rival ceremony.
Soro was elected to the National Assembly in the December 2011 parliamentary election. After serving as Ouattara's prime minister for over a year, Soro resigned on 8 March 2012. He was then elected as President of the National Assembly on 12 March 2012, a move that ensured that he would remain a key figure on the political scene. There were no other candidates for the post.
Read more about this topic: Guillaume Soro
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