Cote d’Ivoire’s incumbent president, Alassane Ouattara, has won a fourth term in office with 89.77 percent of the votes, according to provisional results released Monday by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (CEI).

The CEI said Ouattara, representing the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, received 3,759,030 votes out of 4,187,318 valid ballots cast, with voter turnout at 50.10 percent among the 8.7 million registered voters in Cote d’Ivoire and abroad.

His challengers, Simone Ehivet Gbagbo of the Movement of Capable Generations, Jean-Louis Billon of the Democratic Congress, independent candidate Ahoua Don Mello, and Henriette Lagou Adjoua of the Group of Political Partners for Peace, earned 2.42 percent, 3.09 percent, 1.97 percent, and 1.15 percent of the vote, respectively.

Upon the release of preliminary results on Sunday evening, Billon conceded defeat and congratulated Ouattara on his victory.

The CEI and election observers said the vote took place in a “generally calm and peaceful” atmosphere, despite some “marginal and isolated incidents” reported in parts of the west, central-west, and south. These incidents included vandalism of electoral materials, road blockages, and intimidation of election officials, but did not affect the integrity of the overall process.

Ouattara, 83, has served as president since 2011. He previously held senior roles as governor of the Central Bank of West African States and deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He served as prime minister from 1990 to 1993, before winning the 2010 presidential election, and was re-elected in 2015 and 2020.

Under Ivorian law, the president serves a five-year term elected by direct universal suffrage. The Constitutional Council will proclaim the final results following validation, while any candidate has five days to appeal the outcome.

Source: Xinhua News Agency