Ivory Coast's 83-year-old Ouattara re-elected as president
Photo credit; dailytrust.com
Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth term, winning 89.77 percent of the vote in an election where his two main rivals were excluded, the electoral commission announced on Monday.
Nearly nine million voters were eligible to cast their ballots on Saturday in the world’s top cocoa-producing nation, which has largely resisted coups and jihadist attacks plaguing much of West Africa, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
However, tensions soared and deadly violence erupted in the run-up to the election.
Even before the provisional results were announced, Ouattara was widely expected to have swept the polls, after early tallies on Sunday showed him winning upwards of 90 per cent of the vote.
Turnout was close to 100 percent in his northern strongholds.
The political veteran was also ahead in traditionally pro-opposition areas in the south and parts of the economic hub, Abidjan, where polling stations had been almost empty on Saturday.
Entrepreneur Jean-Louis Billon came second to the veteran leader with 3.09 percent, said commission president Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly, who announced a 50.10 percent turnout — similar to 2020, when Ouattara won 94 percent of the vote in an election boycotted by his main opponents.
This time, Ouattara’s leading rivals — former president Laurent Gbagbo and Credit Suisse ex-CEO Tidjane Thiam — were both barred from contesting, Gbagbo due to a criminal conviction and Thiam for having acquired French nationality.
“Their absence, their calls not to participate in the election, and the climate of tension that deteriorated in recent days foretold a significant demobilisation of the electorate,” said William Assanvo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
In the southern city of Gagnoa, Gbagbo’s former stronghold, Ouattara won 92 percent of the vote, but with a turnout rate of only 20 percent.
The opposition has already denied “any legitimacy” to Ouattara’s victory and has called for new elections.
News.Az
