• Comment
• Print
• E-mail

Ivory Coast president sworn in again despite election result row

Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo

Ouattara supporters in Abidjan

Opposition presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara

• 1
• 2
• 3

Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was yesterday sworn in for a new term, despite international outcry over last Sunday's run-off poll.

The US, UN and France say the election was won by Gbagbo's rival, opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara. He was declared the winner by the nation's electoral body, a result also deemed credible by independent observers, but this was overturned by the constitutional council in favour of Gbagbo. Ouattara is also planning to hold his own swearing-in ceremony.

Both US president Barack Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy released statements acknowledging the victory of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara and asking Gbagbo to step aside.

"The international community will hold those who act to thwart the democratic process and the will of the electorate accountable for their actions," Obama warned.

Gbagbo's five-year mandate expired in 2005 and the country's first election in a decade was delayed multiple times. Gbagbo claimed first the west African country was too volatile and that security could not be assured. He later cited technicalities like the composition of the voter roll. The election went ahead in October but ended up in a run-off, and the country's election commission announced on Thursday that Ouattara had won. However, new results released on national television by a Gbagbo loyalist this weekend said the president had been re-elected. The new figures put Gbagbo on top with more than 51% of the vote by chucking out some 500,000 ballots from Ouattara strongholds.

Those results were broadcast in a continuous loop on TV and radio throughout the country. The figures were immediately rejected by the UN, which is responsible for certifying the final results and which held a news conference to reiterate that Ouattara had won. As soon as the constitutional council declared Gbagbo the victor, angry youths took to the streets, burning tyres and pulling down kiosks and billboards.

The country's constitution gives the council the final word on the vote, but a 2007 peace deal signed by Gbagbo said the UN would also need to certify the result. The UN made it clear that it was standing by the earlier results putting Ouattara ahead.