Abidjan, Nov. 10, (dpa/GNA) – Judges in the West African nation of Ivory Coast on Monday upheld the election result that saw incumbent President Alassane Ouattara kept in power for another term.
“The ballot is regular. Ouattara is proclaimed elected president in the first round of the presidential election,” Mamadou Coulibaly, the head of the country’s Constitutional Council, told journalists in the commercial capital Abidjan.
Ouattara was re-elected for a third term with more than 94.27 per cent of votes in the October 31 poll, while his key rivals Konan Bedie and Pascal Affi N’Guessan received 1.66 per cent and 0.99 per cent of votes respectively.
Both opposition politicians had verbally rejected the results, but none of the losing candidates submitted a formal complaint after the electoral commission announced the results last week, according to Coulibaly.
Police meanwhile arrested N’Guessan and two of his aides and charged them with crimes including terrorism and crimes against the state late on Friday.
N’Guessan had formed a National Transitional Council with other opposition leaders, to challenge Ouattara’s third term by calling for civil disobedience.
GNA