Cynthia Ezegwu
Ivory Coast’s President, Alassane Ouattara, has secured a fourth term in office after winning a landslide 89.77 percent of the vote in Saturday’s presidential election, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday.
The victory came in a highly contested poll marked by tensions and a boycott from major opposition figures, including former president Laurent Gbagbo and ex-Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, both of whom were barred from contesting.
Commission president Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly said voter turnout stood at 50.10 percent, similar to the 2020 election, which Ouattara also won with 94 percent following an opposition boycott. Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote in the latest poll.
Entrepreneur Jean-Louis Billon came a distant second with 3.09 percent of the votes.
The election was largely peaceful on voting day, though it followed weeks of unrest that left at least eight people dead and dozens injured in clashes across several regions. Security forces had been deployed nationwide, with a nighttime curfew imposed in parts of the country to forestall violence.
Political analyst Geoffroy Kouao said the turnout reflected deep political divisions in the country. “Ouattara’s supporters turned out in force, as shown by the Soviet-esque results in certain regions,” he said, adding that “supporters of Gbagbo and Thiam’s parties did not go to the polls.”
In the southern city of Gagnoa — Gbagbo’s traditional stronghold — Ouattara reportedly secured 92 percent of the vote, though turnout there was only 20 percent.
The opposition has rejected the outcome, describing the vote as illegitimate and calling for fresh elections.
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Observers say the absence of key opposition leaders contributed to voter apathy and a lack of competitiveness in the poll. Researcher William Assanvo of the Institute for Security Studies noted that “the climate of tension and the exclusion of top candidates foretold a significant demobilisation of the electorate.”
Following the announcement of results, the streets of Abidjan — which had been deserted during the weekend — returned to normal on Monday.
Local newspapers captured the political divide: pro-government daily Patriote hailed the outcome with the headline “The Ivorians Said No to Prophets of Doom,” while opposition paper Notre Voie described the election as “a reflection of a divided country.”
Ouattara, 82, first came to power after the 2010–2011 post-election crisis that claimed over 3,000 lives in clashes between his supporters and those of then-incumbent Laurent Gbagbo. His latest victory cements his position as one of West Africa’s longest-serving leaders, though critics warn that political exclusion and growing public frustration could reignite instability in the cocoa-rich nation.