Ouattara clinches fourth term with 89.77% in controversial Ivory Coast election

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth presidential term, winning 89.77 percent of the vote in an election boycotted by his two major rivals, the country’s electoral commission announced on Monday.

Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote on Saturday in the world’s leading cocoa-producing nation, which, despite being spared the coups and insurgencies troubling much of West Africa, witnessed tension and sporadic violence ahead of the polls.

Even before the official results were released, Ouattara’s landslide victory was widely anticipated. Early tallies on Sunday showed him winning more than 90 percent of votes, with turnout approaching 100 percent in his northern strongholds.

He also led in several traditionally pro-opposition areas in the south and parts of the economic capital, Abidjan, where voter turnout was visibly low.

According to Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly, president of the Independent Electoral Commission, entrepreneur Jean-Louis Billon finished second with 3.09 percent, while overall voter turnout stood at 50.10 percent, nearly identical to the 2020 election, when Ouattara won 94 percent in a race boycotted by his main opponents.

This year’s contest excluded key rivals — former president Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam — both barred from contesting; Gbagbo over a criminal conviction and Thiam for acquiring French nationality.

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“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 Gagnoa, Gbagbo’s former political base, Ouattara reportedly won 92 percent of the vote, though turnout there was a mere 20 percent.

Opposition parties have already rejected the results, declaring they “deny any legitimacy” to Ouattara’s victory and demanding fresh elections.

Political analyst Geoffroy Kouao said the results reveal a divided electorate.

“First, Mr Ouattara’s supporters turned out in force, as shown by the Soviet-esque results in certain regions,” Kouao observed.
“And second, supporters of the (Gbagbo and Thiam’s parties) did not go to the polls.”

Billon also noted the “very low turnout in some regions”, even as he offered his congratulations to Ouattara.

Analysts say the other candidates on the ballot, including former First Lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, stood little chance of forcing a second round due to limited backing from major parties and scarce campaign resources.

The run-up to the vote was marred by deadly unrest, with at least eight people killed and nearly two dozen injured in election-related clashes at about 200 polling stations. The government responded with a nighttime curfew and deployed 44,000 security personnel nationwide.

Presidential elections in Ivory Coast have historically been fraught with tension. Ouattara first rose to power after the 2010–2011 post-election crisis between him and Gbagbo, a conflict that left over 3,000 people dead.

By Monday, Abidjan had largely returned to normal, after a tense and subdued weekend.

“The Ivorians said NO to prophets of doom,” proclaimed the pro-Ouattara newspaper Le Patriote, hailing what it called “a calm election.” But the opposition daily Notre Voie countered, describing it as “an election reflecting a divided country.”

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