Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, 78, was re-elected for a controversial third term on the score of 94.27% of the vote in the first round, the opposition having boycotted the ballot, according to the results proclaimed by the Independent Electoral Commission ( CEI) Tuesday at dawn.
“Is therefore elected President of the Republic Mr. Alassane Ouattara”, for a new term of five years, declared the president of the CEI, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, after reading the scores.
The participation rate is 53.90%.
Mr. Ouattara received 3,031,483 votes out of a total of 3,215,909 votes cast in this election marked by violence.
17,601 offices of some 22,381 offices were able to open, the number of registered voters therefore increased from 7,495,082 to 6,066,441 registered. Opposition activists ransacked or prevented the opening of offices.
According to the scores announced by the CEI, the independent candidate Kouadio Konan Bertin comes in second with 1.99% of the vote (64,011 votes).
The other two candidates had called for a boycott but still received votes. Former President Henri Konan Bédié finished 3rd with 1.66% (53,330 votes) and ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan fourth with 0.99% (31,986 votes).
The CEI has three days to transmit these results to the Constitutional Council, which has seven days to validate them.
Elected in 2010, re-elected in 2015, Alassane Ouattara, 78, announced in March that he was giving up a new candidacy, before changing his mind in August, following the death of his designated dolphin, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
The Ivorian fundamental law provides for a maximum of two terms, but the Constitutional Council estimated that with the new Constitution adopted in 2016, the presidential term counter was reset to zero. What the opposition disputes.
Earlier Monday, the opposition announced that it had created a “National Transitional Council (…) chaired by Mr. Bédié” with the aim of forming a “transitional government”.
At least 9 people died during the violence during the election or in its wake.
Before the election, around 30 people had died in inter-communal unrest and violence since August and the announcement of Mr. Ouattara’s candidacy.
The fear of an escalation of violence is strong in this West African country, ten years after the post-electoral crisis of 2010-2011 which left 3,000 dead.