A prominent economist and former deputy head of the worldwide Monetary Fund, 73-year-old Ouattara campaigned on having turned around the economy and assured stability after years of turmoil in the former French colony of 23 million.
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“We hope that the first round results that will be announced will be accepted by all those who took part in the election”.
“The mission observed weak participation in most of the voting sites”, it said in a statement, but added that it was not in a position to give an estimated figure for turnout. The elections commission has introduced new technology, including computer tablets, to verify their identities.
PEACE CI, a platform of civil society organisations that fielded about 2 000 observers, said that minor organisational problems had not affected the credibility of the election.
Ouattara, who has led the West African nation to an economic revival in the wake of a decade-long crisis and a brief 2011 civil war, is heavily favored to win a second five-year term.
Sunday’s vote was marked by a few organisational hitches, including the late arrival of materials that led CEI to extend voting in a few places by two hours.
The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) also put voter turnout somewhere around 54 percent, allaying fears that voters would avoid the polls.
In the classroom of a school in Abidjan’s Deux Plateaux neighbourhood, election officials held up ballots for candidates’ observers to scrutinise before tabulating the votes on a chalkboard.
Voter turnout will be critical to legitimising Ouattara’s mandate if he wins as expected.
Polling stations in pro-Gbagbo villages in the former president’s home region around the cocoa hub of Gagnoa were devoid of voters.
Ouattara’s main challenger was former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who ran on behalf of Gbagbo’s party, the Ivorian Popular Front.
Ouattara, who was barred from seeking the presidency over what opponents said were his foreign origins before finally coming to power in 2010, told Reuters last week he would seek to strip nationality clauses from the constitution if elected.
Gbagbo is awaiting trial at the worldwide Criminal Court over his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.
One of the aspirants in Cote d’Ivoire’s presidential election, Bertin Konan Kouadio, has conceded defeat to incumbent President Alassane Ouattara backing away from his earlier allegation that the process was marred by fraud.
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His supporters called for a boycott of this month’s (October)election.
