Sixty people have officially submitted bids to run for president of Côte d'Ivoire in October elections, including two opposition figures who have already been ruled ineligible.

The candidacies, filed with the electoral commission by Tuesday's midnight deadline, now go before the Constitutional Council, which is tasked with drawing up the final list.

Among them are Tidjane Thiam, leader of the largest opposition force, the PDCI party, who is ineligible due to nationality-related legal issues.

Ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, head of the African Peoples' Party – Côte d'Ivoire (PPA-CI), is also excluded because of a criminal conviction.

President Ouattara officially files re-election bid

Both Thiam and Gbagbo have, however, presented their formal electoral bids. The Constitutional Council has until September 10 to release the final list of candidates.

Thiam, a former international banker who has been away from Côte d'Ivoire since mid-March, is running for the country's presidency "to respond to its people's call for change", his chief of staff Alain Cocauthrey said.

"In a so-called democratic country, it is only through elections that one makes one's ideas known," said Sebastien Dano Djedje, the PPA-CI's executive president.

President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has announced he will seek a fourth term, presented the papers for his candidacy in person on Tuesday.

He said he was answering "the call of many Côte d'Ivoire citizens who want us to continue together on the path to peace, stability and development".