Ivory Coast Votes With 83-Year-Old Ouattara’s Legacy In Focus

Ivory Coast held a presidential election on Saturday that proceeded without major disruptions, with incumbent and strong favourite Alassane Ouattara, 83, claiming credit for nearly 15 years of economic growth and relative stability while hinting that this would be his final campaign.

Turnout appeared low at many polling stations in Abidjan, the commercial capital.

In more than a dozen opposition strongholds outside Abidjan, voting was hindered by protesters blocking roads and burning or stealing election materials, according to a team of observers from the national human rights council.

The army reported that 30 polling stations in the central-western region of Haut Sassandra were vandalised, while 97% remained secure.

More than 8 million people were registered to vote, with polling stations scheduled to close at 6 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), and counting began immediately in the Abidjan districts of Abidjan, Cocody, and Yopougon, according to Reuters witnesses.

Provisional results are expected within five days, and a runoff will be held if no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes.

A former international banker and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ouattara came to power in 2011 after a four-month civil war that resulted in around 3,000 deaths, triggered by the refusal of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, to acknowledge defeat in the 2010 elections.

Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, were deemed ineligible to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lack the backing of major political parties, making Ouattara the clear favorite.

While announcing his candidacy in July, Ouattara described a fourth term as a “generational transmission.” This week, he acknowledged that “it’s not easy to work at the same pace” now that he is in his 80s.

As polling stations opened at 0800 GMT in the Adjame district of Abidjan, even Ouattara’s supporters suggested it was time for him to step aside for new leadership.

“He has really changed the image of Ivory Coast, but this should be his last term. We need to pass the torch to a new generation,” said Souamane Cisse, a 44-year-old driver.

Schoolteacher Fatou Fofana, 48, also expressed the need for younger leadership, provided the transition is peaceful. There is no clear successor within the ruling party.