Despite ongoing protests and allegations of widespread irregularities at the polls, Constitutional Courts in Ivory Coast and Guinea have confirmed the re-election of the countries’ incumbent presidents, President Alassane Ouattara and President Alpha Conde, amidst a rising death toll.
Ouattara Gets The Green Light
The Constitutional Council of Cote d’Ivoire, on Monday, confirmed the re-election of the country’s incumbent leader in a ruling where it decided that “the election of October 31 is regular” thus, accepting Ouattara’s polling numbers that saw him win 94.27 per cent of the votes in the presidential election.
Constitutional Council President, Mamadou Kone, revealed that no complaint received from presidential candidates or proposed irregularity from the polls compromised the validity of the ballot as presented by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI).
The CEI, while announcing Ouattara’s win, had also announced that out of a total of 6,066,441 voters, it collected 3,269,813 valid votes from 17,601 polling stations, with a participation rate of about 53.90 per cent.
Meanwhile, a recent report published by the Vanguard also highlights around 50 deaths that have been recorded since August following Ouattara’s decision to run for a highly contested third term.
According to the report, police continue to surround the home of opposition candidate, Henri Bedie, as two other opposition members, former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan and Maurice Kakou Guikahue, deputy of Bedie’s main opposition party PDCI, have been arrested.
Condé Sails Into A New Term
Similarly, Guinea’s constitutional court has confirmed President Alpha Condé’s victory in last month’s disputed election, rejecting allegations of fraud and handing him a third term his opponents say is unconstitutional.
Condé worked to change the constitution earlier in the year in order to bypass the original two-term limit set for the country’s presidency. Following the polls, Condé’s main challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo and other opposition candidates alleged irregularities in the official results announced two weeks ago that showed Condé won outright with 59.5 percent of the vote.
However, Diallo’s appeal at the Constitutional Court has been rejected as the Court said there was no evidence to back up the claim, leaving the path formally clear for Conde to begin a new six-year term.
