Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara has been reelected as the president and will run the affairs of the country in the next five years.
According to provisional results announced by country’s Independent Electoral Commission on Monday said that the incumbent had won a fourth term with 89.77 percent of the ballots cast.
Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote on Saturday in a race that excluded Ouattara’s top rivals.
Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo was barred over a criminal conviction, and former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam was disqualified for acquiring French citizenship.
The remaining four candidates were not seen as viable contenders, as they lacked backing from a major political party and significant financial resources.
One of them, former Commerce Minister Jean-Louis Billon, who on Sunday had congratulated Ouattara, received 3.09 percent of the vote.
Former First Lady Simone Gbagbo received 2.42 percent, according to the results read on state television by Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, president of the electoral commission.
Aljazeera media network report that while announcing the results, Coulibaly-Kuibiert put turnout at around 50 percent – a level comparable to the presidential elections in 2010 and 2015, but far below the 80 percent who voted in the first round in 2010.
Reports says the banning of Ouattara’s top rivals, as well as low voter turnout, had handed him a “landslide victory”.
“A lot of people are wondering whether or not this is an endorsement, but the electoral commission said more than 50 percent of the voting population participated in this election, which … could give Ouattara the credibility he needs to run a government,” he said.