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Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council Confirms Ouattara’s Third Term Win

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara speaks next to his wife Dominique after casting their votes at a polling station during the presidential election in Abidjan, Ivory Coast October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

The Ivory Coast constitutional court has confirmed the 3rd term re-election victory of President Alassane Ouattara after final results on Monday.

Final results showed Ouattara, who sought re-election despite opposition insisting he would be violating the constitution, polled 94.27% of the vote.

Opposition parties and their supporters had largely boycotted the election.

Constitutional council president Mamadou Kone officially announced Ouattara’s victory on Monday at a press conference.

Main opposition figures are facing criminal charges after denouncing the Oct. 31 vote and creating a rival government in protest.

Opposition groups say Ouattara violated the constitution, which limits presidents to two terms. Ouattara says the approval of a new constitution in 2016 allows him to restart his mandate.

Clashes in the run-up to the vote and on election day killed around 35 people, officials said, raising concerns about the stability of Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer.

Meanwhile, Ivorian opposition leader and former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan has been placed under arrest for creating a rival government after President Ouattara’s election victory.

Prosecutors in Ivory Coast are pursuing terrorism charges against more than a dozen opposition leaders who announced they were creating a transitional government after Ouattara won the election.

N’Guessan was arrested overnight after the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday that he was being sought by the police.

Geneviève Goëtzinger, a spokeswoman for N’Guessan, said on Twitter he was arrested in the south-eastern town of Akoupé while en route to his home town, Bongouanou.

N’Guessan served as prime minister from 2000-2003 under President Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to concede defeat to Ouattara after the 2010 election led to a civil war that killed an estimated 3,000 people.

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