No candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round four weeks ago Ivory Coast’s election commission has delayed the announcement of the presidential run-off results, amidst rising tension and anger.
Alassane Ouattara’s supporters have accused his opponent President Laurent Gbagbo of trying to “confiscate power” by blocking the announcement.
Mr Gbagbo says he reserves the right to annul results from his rival’s northern stronghold because of alleged fraud.
International observers have described Sunday’s elections as generally fair.
The presidential elections, the first in 10 years, are intended to reunify the country – divided by civil war in 2002.
Both sides have accused each other of intimidation and fraud and at least three people were killed on Sunday.
The BBC’s John James in the commercial capital, Abidjan, says only the results from voters abroad have so far been released by the electoral commission – and of these 60% voted for Mr Ouattara.
This news has raised tensions and there is a now heavy security presence on the streets of the city, he says.
Laurent Gbagbo (left)
Age: 65Southerner, ChristianFormer history teacher, now presidentTook 38% of the first-round vote
Alassane Ouattara (right)
Age: 68Northerner, MuslimEconomist and former prime ministerTook 32% of the first-round voteCountry profile: Ivory Coast
The election commission had said it was to start announcing the rest of the results on Tuesday morning.
But journalists who had been waiting for them inside the electoral commission headquarters in Abidjan were told to leave, our reporter says.
Following this Mr Ouattara’s spokesperson said the delay would “drive the country once again into chaos”.
“There is an attempt to prevent the electoral commission from declaring the results. The officials from Laurent Gbagbo’s camp have put up resistance,” Albert Mabri Toikeusse said.
Mr Gbagbo’s campaign manager said they had the right to contest the vote in three regions in the north.
“There were results that were forced out of the population; these were results that are totally false, which are the fruit of stuffed ballot boxes, of fraudulent results sheets,” Pascal Affi N’Guessan said.
The result is expected to be extremely close – testament to the fact these are the first open democratic elections the country has seen in 50 years since independence.
The two candidates represent the two sides of the north-south divide that exists religiously, culturally and administratively, with the northern half still controlled in part by the soldiers who took part in the 2002 rebellion, our reporter says.
The elections have been cancelled six times in the past five years.
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