ABIDJAN: Alassane Ouattara looked likely to secure a fourth term as Ivory Coast president when final results are released Monday, with early tallies pointing to a landslide victory in a race from which two major rivals had been banned.
Ouattara, 83, has led the world’s top cocoa producer since 2011, when the country began reasserting itself as a west African economic powerhouse.
Official results from some of Ouattara’s northern strongholds showed him winning upwards of 90 percent of the vote with turnout close to 100 percent.
The final results are expected Monday at 1100 GMT, according to the electoral commission, and the president-elect would be announced early in the afternoon.
The political veteran was also ahead in traditionally pro-opposition areas in the south and parts of the economic hub Abidjan, where polling stations had been almost empty on Saturday.
In reaction to the preliminary results, Jean-Louis Billon, one of several opposition candidates, offered his congratulations to Ouattara on his “re-election.”
“While the election took place in a generally peaceful and secure atmosphere … the process was not without irregularities,” said Billon, expressing concern about “a very low turnout, particularly in certain regions.”
Those concerns were echoed by others.
“We are seeing a very clear divide between the north and the south,” Simon Doho, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) told AFP, highlighting the discrepancy in turnout.
“Doubts can be raised about the legitimacy of a president elected under these conditions,” he added.
Electoral commission president Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert put turnout at around 50 percent – a similar level to 2020, when Ouattara won 94 percent of the vote in an election boycotted by the main opponents.
Poll violence
This time around, Ouattara’s leading rivals – former president Laurent Gbagbo and Credit Suisse ex-CEO Tidjane Thiam – were both barred from standing, Gbagbo for a criminal conviction and Thiam for having acquired French nationality.
With key contenders out of the race, Ouattara was the overwhelming favorite to secure a fourth term.
None of the four candidates who faced Ouattara on Saturday represented a major party, nor did they have the reach of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP).
While election day was generally calm, incidents were reported at 200 polling stations across the country, according to security forces.
Clashes broke out in several localities in the south and west, but these incidents had “no major impact on the voting process,” according to Interior Minister Vagondo Diomande.
On Saturday, a 13-year-old boy was killed by a shot fired in the center-west town of Gregbeu and a Burkinabe national died during clashes in the Gadouan region, security sources said.
Twenty-two others were injured by gunshots or stab wounds, one of whom is in critical condition.
Six people have died this month during the election period.
With the opposition calling for protests and unrest turning deadly in recent days, the government declared a night-time curfew in some areas and deployed 44,000 security forces.
The government also banned demonstrations, and the courts have sentenced several dozen people to three-year jail terms for disturbing the peace.
A smiling Ouattara was met with cheers from activists at his party’s headquarters in Abidjan after polls closed on Saturday evening.
Ivory Coast’s Ouattara set for fourth term, early results suggest
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Ivory Coast’s Ouattara set for fourth term, early results suggest
- Alassane Ouattara has led the world’s top cocoa producer since 2011, when the country began reasserting itself as a west African economic powerhouse
- The final results are expected Monday, according to the electoral commission, and the president-elect would be announced early in the afternoon
Thailand-Cambodia fighting rages on as Trump signals intent to intervene
- Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km border
- “I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” Trump said
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand and Cambodia traded accusations of targeting civilians in artillery and rocket attacks on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump said he would try to intervene to stop the fighting and salvage a ceasefire he brokered earlier this year.
Clashes raged at more than a dozen locations along their 817-km (508-mile) border in some of the most intense fighting since a five-day battle in July, which Trump stopped with calls to both leaders to halt their worst conflict in recent history.
The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for the clashes that started on Monday.
’IT CANNOT BE AS SIMPLE AS PICKING UP THE PHONE’
Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania late on Tuesday said he would try to stop the renewed hostilities, after enumerating the conflicts he said he had helped stop, such as those between Pakistan and India, and Israel and Iran.
“I hate to say this one, named Cambodia-Thailand, and it started up today, and tomorrow I am going to have to make a phone call,” he said.
“Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’“
Thailand’s army has made clear it wants to cripple Cambodia’s military capabilities and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday said operations would not stop.
He declined to comment on Wednesday on what the military’s end-game was. Asked about Trump’s remarks, he said the conflict was a matter between the two countries involved.
“Other national leaders may have good intentions in wanting peace,” Anutin told reporters. “It cannot be as simple as picking up the phone and calling. There must be proper appointment and agreed talking points. We still have time to prepare these issues if such discussions are to take place.”
Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona said Phnom Penh’s position was that it wanted only peace and had acted in self-defense. A top adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister has signalled the country was ready to negotiate.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who helped Trump broker the ceasefire, said he had spoken with leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday and, though no definitive resolution was reached, he appreciated “the openness and willingness of both leaders to continue negotiations in order to ease tensions.”
ROCKETS, JETS AND DRONE-BOMBS
Thailand’s army said fighting took place on 16 different fronts on Wednesday, including both ends of the border. It reported an onslaught of BM-21 rockets fired by Cambodian forces, some of which it said landed near a hospital in Surin province, forcing the evacuation of patients and staff.
The army said Cambodian drones were being used to drop bombs and BM-21 rockets, and tanks were used at other border areas, including near the contested 11th Century Preah Vihear temple, a flashpoint for previous diplomatic and military conflicts.
Cambodia’s military said Thailand used artillery fire and armed drones and fired mortars into homes, while F-16 fighter jets had entered Cambodian airspace on multiple occasions, some dropping bombs near civilian areas.
“Cambodian forces have been fighting fiercely against the advancing enemy and have stood firm in their role of protecting Cambodia’s territorial integrity,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
In July, Trump used the leverage of trade negotiations to broker a ceasefire. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on Tuesday told Reuters that tariff threats should not be used to pressure his country into talks.
Last month, Thailand suspended de-escalation measures, agreed at an October summit in Trump’s presence, after a Thai soldier was maimed by a land mine that Bangkok said was newly laid by Cambodia, which rejects the accusation.
HEAVY TOLL ON CIVILIANS
The three days of clashes have taken a heavy toll on civilians, with nine people killed in Cambodia, including an infant, and 46 people wounded, according to its government. Five Thai soldiers had been killed in the fighting and 68 people were wounded, the Thai army said.
On Wednesday, Cambodia withdrew its athletes from the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, citing safety reasons and their families’ concern.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from border areas, though some people have chosen not to leave.
“I have to stay behind,” said Wuttikrai Chimngarm, as he hunkered down behind a makeshift bunker of tires stacked six high while shelling shook Thailand’s border province of Buriram.
“I’m the head of the village, if not me, then who? Who will be safeguarding the houses and belongings of the villagers from looters?“
As soon as Monday’s fighting erupted, residents fled the disputed village of Kaun Kriel, about 25 km (15 miles) northwest of Cambodia’s city of Samraong.
“This is my second run because the place I live ... was under attack both times,” said Cambodian Marng Sarun, a 31-year-old harvester, who left with his wife and two children.
