Ivory Coast’s election commission and the main political parties collated results overnight after millions turned out to vote in a peaceful presidential election meant to end years of crisis.
No major figures have yet been published and the commission has until tomorrow to announce results from Sunday’s poll, which observers said would probably lead to a second round of voting on Nov. 28.
The election commission, which said turnout from the 5.7 million registered voters had been 60 percent to 70 percent, announced a handful of minor results from Ivorians voting in three European nations.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo faced 13 challengers, but his main rivals were Henri Konan Bedie, a former president ousted in a 1999 coup, and Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister and IMF official.
Despite fears over security and delays in distributing voter cards and election equipment, the poll, first due five years ago, appeared to take place with only some minor delays.
There are few differences between the key policy ideas put forward by the main candidates, but a successful poll is seen as essential for rekindling investment and enacting reforms to Ivory Coast’s cocoa sector, which accounts for about a third of global supply. Any post-election trouble is likely to depress Ivory Coast’s US$2.3 billion eurobond, Africa’s biggest.
Ivorian security forces patrolled the main city of Abidjan overnight, where UN peacekeepers have also stepped up security during the voting process. Yesterday was a public holiday.
All three candidates said they were happy with the way voting had gone. The three camps held events overnight during which they tallied results streaming in from representatives watching the vote in about 20,000 polling stations nationwide.
A senior member of Outtara’s RDR party told French radio RFI he was in the lead and could win in one round, without giving details.
The candidates are under pressure not to announce any results before the commission does so.
“There is a push [on the commission] to get the results out,” one international poll observer said. “If [it] is transparent, no one will trust what the candidates are saying.”
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