Abidjan. — Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has won a third term in office, with 94.27 percent of the vote, the electoral commission announced, after a bitter election which sparked deadly violence and which opposition voters boycotted.
“Thus elected president of the republic, Alassane Ouattara,” Kuibiert-Coulibaly Ibrahime, the head of the electoral commission announced early yesterday.
He said the final turnout for the October 31 election was at 53.90 percent.
The results have to be validated by the country’s constitutional council, which will declare the final winner after hearing any challenges or complaints of irregularities.
Two main opposition candidates on the ballot had asked supporters not to take part in Saturday’s election, in protest at Ouattara’s decision to run. Their parties said whole swathes of the country had not participated.
Opposition activists say Ouattara’s decision to seek a third term was a further blow to democracy in West Africa less than three months after a military coup in neighbouring Mali and a successful third term bid by Guinea’s President Alpha Conde.
Ouattara, 78, received more than 90 percent of votes in most districts, although the opposition said his bid was an illegal attempt to hold onto power. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reporting from the Nigerian capital, Abuja said the announced results will not lead to an end to the political wrangling in Ivory Coast. — Al Jazeera.