Ivory Coast: Alassane Ouattara secures fourth term after opposition boycotts election

Ivory Coast: Alassane Ouattara secures fourth term after opposition boycotts election

Alassane Ouattara was re-elected for a fourth term with 89.7% of the vote, following a vote marked by high abstention and the absence of key opposition figures.

Alassane Ouattara was re-elected president of Côte d’Ivoire on Monday, winning a landslide fourth term in office after a vote that was shut down by the two main opposition figures and rejected by half of the voters.

Mr. Ouattara, 83, who faced four opponents of weak political clout, obtained 89.77% of the vote, according to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The turnout, which stood at 50.1%, reflects the lack of interest in the election among some of the 8.7 million Ivorians called to the polls on Saturday in this country, the world’s leading cocoa producer and a centre of stability in a region troubled by coups and jihadist attacks.

The southern and western regions, where the opposition is historically strong, particularly shunned the election, in the absence of former President Laurent Gbagbo and international banker Tidjane Thiam, leaders of the PPA-CI and PDCI.

The latter, who had not given any instructions before the vote, were excluded from the vote because of their removal from the electoral roll, the first for a criminal conviction and the second for nationality issues.

The Abidjan commune of Yopougon, which was a stronghold of Mr. Gbagbo, for example, recorded a turnout of 31%. But there, as in all the country’s departments, those who turned out put “ADO” well ahead, with 86.6% of the vote.

On the other hand, in the north, a region dominated by Mr. Ouattara’s Malinke ethnic group, the president had a clear victory, with scores sometimes exceeding 99%, as in the town of Kong, one of his strongholds, and a turnout of over 90%.

“Fear”

“The turnout shows two things. First, the mobilization of Mr. Ouattara’s supporters was significant, as shown by the Soviet scores in certain regions. And second, supporters of the PPA-CI and the PDCI did not turn out to vote,” points out political analyst Geoffroy Kouao.

“The absence of Messrs. Gbagbo and Thiam, their calls not to participate in the election and the climate of tension which has deteriorated over the last few days suggested a significant demobilization of the electorate,” confirms William Assanvo, researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

The ruling party emphasized that the turnout was similar to that of 2015 and 2020, when Mr. Ouattara was re-elected by landslide, also without a major opponent.

On Sunday evening, the Common Front, which brings together the PDCI and the PPACI, denounced a “silent international community” and a regime “that has made repression and fear (…) an electoral strategy.” They already deny “any legitimacy” to Alassane Ouattara and have called for new elections.

Nearly 44,000 law enforcement officers were deployed across the country and the government banned Common Front demonstrations in October, making hundreds of arrests for public order disturbances in particular.

There were four opponents in the running, but none had the support of a major party.

Entrepreneur and former Minister of Commerce Jean-Louis Billon, a PDCI dissident, came second with 3.09%, and former First Lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo obtained 2.42%.

The sovereignist close to Russian circles Ahoua Don Mello and the centrist Henriette Lagou brought up the rear with 1.97% and 1.15% of the vote respectively.