By Mark Ogagan
President Alassane Ouattara has won re-election in Cote d’Voire’s presidential vote, according to provisional results.
The country’s Independent Electoral Commission announced on Monday that the 83-year-old incumbent had won a fourth term with 89.77 percent of the ballots cast.
Nearly nine million Ivoriens were eligible to vote on Saturday in a race that excluded Ouattara’s top rivals. Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo was barred over a criminal conviction, and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam was disqualified for acquiring French citizenship.
The remaining four candidates were not seen as viable contenders, as they lacked backing from a major political party and significant financial resources.
One of them, former Commerce Minister Jean-Louis Billon, who on Sunday had congratulated Ouattara, received 3.09 percent of the vote. Former First Lady Simone Gbagbo received 2.42 percent, according to the results read on state television by Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, president of the electoral commission.
Coulibaly-Kuibiert put turnout at around 50 percent – a level comparable to the presidential elections in 2010 and 2015, but far below the 80 percent who voted in the first round in 2010.
Analysts say the banning of Ouattara’s top rivals, as well as low voter turnout, handed him a “landslide victory”.
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