ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast—Security forces in Ivory Coast dispersed opposition supporters with tear gas as protesters erected barricades in another part of Abidjan on Nov. 3 after President Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner of a controversial third term.
Police disrupted a news conference by opposition leaders with international journalists in the afternoon of Nov. 3. After ordering people to leave, the forces fired tear gas in the streets surrounding the press conference.
It wasn’t known where the opposition leaders Pascal Affi N’Guessan and 86-year-old former President Henri Konan Bedie were on the evening of Nov. 3. The two opposition leaders had boycotted the election in a bid to discredit the vote.
On Nov. 2, they had discounted Outtara’s victory, saying the elections weren’t fair and that his mandate to lead Ivory Coast had expired.
There have been widespread fears that post-election violence could erupt in Ivory Coast, where more than 3,000 people were killed a decade ago following a disputed vote.
Opposition leaders say more than 30 people already have died in violence linked to the Oct. 31 election. On the night of Nov. 2, they said their call for civil disobedience was still in effect and told supporters “to remain mobilized until the final victory.”
The U.N. refugee agency, meanwhile, reported that as of Nov. 3 more than 3,200 Ivorians had fled to Liberia, Ghana, and Togo fearing post-electoral violence.
“I fear for the future. What’s the point of giving the results of this election when practically all observers question the credibility? Can the re-election of a contested candidate heal the wounds of 2010?” Abidjan resident Mikael Koffi said on Nov. 3.
“Where are we going with the country so divided that the opposition does not recognize the results of the election on one side and the ruling party does not want to make concessions on the other?”
The electoral commission said early on Nov. 3 that voter turnout was 53.9 percent, according to election officials, though the opposition has maintained only 10 percent of Ivorian voters took part.
