Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara was reelected to a contested third term , electoral authorities said Tuesday , after a vote marred by deadly unrest and a boycott by the opposition who promised to set up a rival “ transitional ” government .
The standoff pitches francophone West Africa ’ s top economy deeper into a crisis that erupted in August when Ouattara said he would run for a third term , angering the opposition who accused him of carrying out an “ electoral coup ” .
“ The President Alassane Ouattara has been elected, ” election commission president Ibrahime Coulibaly – Kuibiert said in an early morning broadcast .
He said Ouattara won 94 percent of the vote and that turnout had been 53 .9 percent.
The landslide result had been widely expected after two leading opposition leaders called for a boycott of the ballot and a civil disobedience campaign .
Pre – election clashes killed at least 30 and anti – Ouattara protests have stoked fears of a repeat of a crisis a decade ago when 3 , 000 people died in fighting after then -president Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat by Ouattara.
Hours before the results , the opposition said they would create a transitional government , insisting Ouattara’ s mandate was over as he had broken the country ’ s two- term presidential limit .
Ouattara, a former IMF economist first elected in 2010 , says a 2016 reform allowed him to run again .
