The current head of state, 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara, was the winner of Saturday’s presidential election in Ivory Coast.. He won 89.77 percent of the vote, securing a fourth term in office. Businessman Jean-Louis Billo finished in second place with around three percent, followed by former first lady Simone Gbagbo with 2.4 percent. Preliminary results were announced on Monday by the election commission, TASR reports, according to an AFP report.
Ouattara, who was an early election favorite, has ruled the West African country since 2011. He first came to power after disputed elections, which were accompanied by a civil war with 3,000 victims, and in which he finally won over his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo.
Ghagb and also the former general director of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, as the main rival of the current president, were denied participation in the elections – to the ex-president due to a criminal conviction and to the banker because he held French citizenship at the time of registration. Since the civil war, Ouattara has been credited by supporters with reviving the economy, while critics accuse him of consolidating his power in the world’s largest cocoa producer.
