Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara wins fourth term after main rivals barred
Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara won an election that has been marred by protests against bans imposed on his long-time rivals.
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth term, according to provisional results announced on Monday.
With an overwhelming 89.7 per cent of the vote, the 83-year-old is set to extend his rule to nearly two decades.
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Two major rivals to Ouattara, Tidjane Thiam, a former Credit Suisse executive, and Ouattara's predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, were barred from running.
Entrepreneur Jean-Louis Billon, who already congratulated Ouattara on Sunday, placed a distant second with about 3 per cent, according to election commission President Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly.
Simone Gbagbo, a former first lady, finished third with 2.4 per cent, under provisional results.
The provisional results will now be reviewed by the Constitutional Council, which has five days to announce the final outcome.
Some 8.5 million people were registered to vote. However, turnout was low with only around 50 per cent of voters taking to the polls.
Voter turnout was similar in 2020, when Ouattara won 94 per cent of the vote in polls boycotted by the opposition.
This time around, Ouattara was the clear favourite as his main rivals - Gbagbo and Thiam - were not legally permitted to run.
Thiam was removed from the electoral list for having acquired French nationality. Gbagbo was barred from standing because of a criminal conviction.
Protests against the exclusion of the two in early October led to hundreds of activists being arrested and reports of several unexplained kidnappings.
The Ivorian Human Rights Commission reported six deaths linked to the election.
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