Ouattara, Ivory Coast opposition leader, wins runoff vote; violence escalates.
By Marco Chown Oved, Associated Press
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Ivory Coast’s electoral commission on Thursday declared opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the winner of the West African country’s first presidential election in a decade.
Supporters of the incumbent had prevented the commission earlier from announcing results from Sunday’s runoff vote, saying tallies from at least four of the country’s 19 regions should be canceled. It remained unclear whether President Laurent Gbagbo’s supporters would accept the announced result.
Election commission chief Youssouf Bakayoko said that Ouattara won with 54.1 percent of the vote, compared to 45.9 percent for Gbagbo.
The results, released one day later than constitutionally mandated, still must be certified by the nation’s constitutional council. Ouattara’s party had accused the incumbent president of trying to steal the long-awaited ballot.
Millions have hoped the vote, which international observers declared free and fair, will restore stability to Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer that was split in two following a brief civil war in 2002-2003.
Gbagbo, whose five-year mandate officially expired in 2005, has stayed in office while claiming elections were impossible because of the 2002-2003 war. Disputes over who would be allowed on voter rolls — more than one-third of the population are economic migrants from neighboring countries — fueled the delays.
Gbagbo led the first round of voting in October with 38 percent to Ouattara’s 32 percent. Ouattara then won the endorsement of the third-place contestant who received 25 percent.
This can only happen in Africa.