Opposition leaders in Ivory Coast have called for a “civilian transition” from President Alassane Ouattara’s government, as official results showed the incumbent taking a commanding early lead in his controversial bid to secure a third term in an election that has been marked by deadly violence.
Ouattara won all 20 of the districts that were announced from Saturday’s vote by the electoral commission. Results from the other 88 districts are expected to be announced later on Sunday or early Monday.
The president has been expected to win re-election after his opponents called for a boycott of the vote in protest of what they say is an illegal bid to hold onto power. Ouattara says the approval of a new constitution in 2016 means he is not violating a two-term limit.
The dispute led to violence in the lead-up to the polls that killed more than 30 people. At least five more people died in clashes on election day in the centre of the country, officials said on Sunday.
The unrest has stoked fears of a repeat of the electoral violence that had engulfed the country nearly a decade ago. The 2010 election standoff led to months of fighting that left more than 3,000 people dead after then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede defeat to Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner.
In a joint statement on Sunday, opposition candidates Henri Konan Bedie, a former president, and ex-Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan said on Sunday that about 30 people had died since Saturday, without providing details.
