Suspense over in Ivory Coast as Gbagbo and Ouattara face 2nd round of Presidential Elections

by Sara Atteby | 6 novembre 2010 0 h 05 min

Ivory Coast Election 2010 2nd Round

The people of the Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) were able to return to routine life once more after 3 days of suspense, fervently awaiting the final results of the presidential election held this Sunday, 31^st October. In stark contrast to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week where in Abidjan the streets were empty, schools were closed and many businesses shut. Even taxis were hard to come by. This was reflected across the nation’s cities and towns where the mood was tense but the people were patient.

After the initial joy at the success of Sunday’s vote, many people were unsurprisingly frustrated at the electoral commission’s delay in announcing the outcome. Partial results were released on Monday from expats living abroad, a trickle of results were then announced later on RTI (the national television station), but further delays meant rumours spread and a mass of unofficial results were published online on Twitter and Facebook.

Just after midnight (and just after the planned deadline) on Wednesday evening the final official results were announced, allowing the people of Ivory Coast to breathe a sigh of relief. Former President (1993-1999) Henri Konan Bédié on 25.24%, former Prime Minister Allassane Ouattara (1990-1993) on 32.08% and Current President Laurent Gbagbo on 38.30%, with no one gaining absolute majority, Ouattara and Gbagbo will now meet head to head in a second round of voting on the 21^st November.

By Sara Atteby