Ivory Coast Elections 2015: Alassane Ouattara Wins Second Term with 84% of Vote

Alassane Ouattara has won a second five-year term as Ivory Coast’s president with nearly 84% of the vote, electoral commission officials say.

He won a total of 2,118,229 votes, or 83.66% of votes cast, the commission said. Turnout was 54.63%.

Several opposition candidates pulled out of the campaign, complaining that it was not free and fair.

The last vote in 2010 was bitterly contested and resulted in a civil war in which 3,000 people lost their lives.

Alassane Ouattara required more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off. His closest opposition rival, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, got just 9%.

In the 2010 vote, Alassane Ouattara defeated then-President Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to step down triggered months of violence in which thousands of people were killed.

Alassane Ouattara’s campaign this year centered around his economic program. Critics accused him of failing to foster reconciliation or reduce poverty.

The 54% turnout in Ivory Coast’s election was down from the 2010 first-round turnout of about 80%.