Abidjan, Ivory Coast — President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth consecutive term in office following a landslide victory in Ivory Coast’s presidential election, according to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on Monday evening.
The 83-year-old leader won 89.77% of the vote, translating to 3.75 million ballots, extending his 14-year rule over the world’s largest cocoa-producing nation.
The landslide victory, however, came as no major surprise. After being barred from the presidential race, former President Laurent Gbagbo and ex-Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam urged their supporters to boycott the polls, a move that significantly reduced competition and voter enthusiasm.
Voter turnout stood at just 50.1%, according to the electoral commission, a figure reflecting the widespread disengagement across major cities, including Abidjan, where many polling stations saw fewer than 50 voters by midday.
Ouattara’s nearest challenger, Jean-Louis Billon, a former trade minister, earned 3% of the vote, while former First Lady Simone Gbagbo finished with 2.42%. Other contenders, Ahoua Don Mello and Henriette Lagou Adjoua, trailed with marginal tallies. Billon, acknowledging the president’s commanding lead, congratulated Ouattara on Sunday night in a concession statement shared on social media.
Monday’s results are provisional, pending confirmation by the Constitutional Council, which will review any potential petitions before announcing the final outcome in the coming days.
In a joint statement, an opposition coalition made up of Gbagbo and Thiam’s parties denounced the election as a “civilian coup d’état,” declaring they would not recognize Ouattara as a legitimately elected leader.
Ouattara, who first assumed the presidency in 2011 after Gbagbo’s arrest and refusal to concede defeat in the disputed 2010 election, was originally limited to two terms. However, a 2016 constitutional amendment reset the term limits, allowing him to seek a controversial third term in 2020, which was also boycotted by the opposition.
This latest victory gives the veteran leader his widest margin yet, surpassing his 2015 win with 83% of the vote.
Despite the boycott and low voter engagement, some observers described this year’s poll as one of Ivory Coast’s most peaceful elections in years, contrasting sharply with the violent crises that followed the 2010 and 2020 votes, events that left thousands dead.
Still, the pre-election atmosphere was tense. Youths ransacked the electoral commission office in Yamoussoukro, prompting authorities to impose a nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Over 250 protesters were arrested earlier this month, with 32 handed three-year sentences, deepening political unease.
Human rights groups also criticized the heavy deployment of security forces and the marginalization of key opposition figures, warning of democratic backsliding under Ouattara’s leadership.
Unless the Constitutional Council rules otherwise, Ouattara, who has presided over years of strong economic growth and massive infrastructure expansion, will continue to govern Ivory Coast until 2030.
Supporters hail him as a stabilizing force and an architect of modernization, but critics argue that his presidency has become synonymous with cronyism, centralized power, and an erosion of political pluralism.
