The constitutional Court in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire has ratified results for President Alassane Outtara allowing him to rule for a third- term.
Mamadou Kone, the Constitutional Council President, said on Monday that the top court ratified the results and noted “no serious irregularities” in the conduct of the election.
“Alassane Ouattara is proclaimed elected in the first round,” Kone said in a statement broadcast on television.
The ratifications follow moments after clashes a roused in the world’s largest cocoa producing state with opposition protesting Ouattaras victory in the October 31, election.
Ouattara won the October 31 vote by a landslide, but Ivory Coast is caught in a crisis after opposition leaders boycotted the ballot and vowed to set up a rival government.
This has since caused more bloodsheds and deaths in the country. At least 50 people have been killed in poll-linked violence since August.
Shortly after constitutional court anniuncements, Ouattara, 78, ran to the media where he invited his challengers in the opposition led by former president, Henri Kone Bedie for open dialogue to help to restore confidence and peace in the land.
“I ask all my fellow citizens in the spirit of appeasement… to work to strengthen peace,” Ouattara said in a national broadcast.
Opposition chiefs had called for a campaign of civil disobedience over the vote because they said Ouattara was violating the two-term presidential limits.
Ouattara says a 2016 reform allowed him to run again by effectively resetting the term limits to zero.
Solange Aka, the local gov’t administrator on Monday told AFP that fresh Clashes broken up in Daoukro leaving at least six people dead and 41others wounded.
Further reports alleged that two opposition leaders, former prime minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan and Maurice Kakou Guikahue, deputy of Bedie’s main opposition party PDCI, have been arrested.
Access to homes of some opposition leaders including Bedie’s home in the capital city Abidjan have been put on blockade.
The post-election events prompted the United Nations to call for roundtable talks aiming to restoring peace in the West African state.
Michelle Bachelet , the United Nations human rights commissioner on Monday expressed concern over arrests and home blockades of some opposition leaders.
“It is in nobody’s interests to fuel the threat of increasing political instability,” she said in a statement.
“I urge political leaders from all sides to work together to calm the tensions through dialogue—not heavy-handed security responses and arrests.”
