AFP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Ivory Coast | Thursday
IVORY Coast socialist leader Laurent Gbagbo, who has claimed power after junta leader Robert Guei fled the country, faces immediate calls for a new election from rival candidates barred from the ballot papers.
While the official results from Sunday’s presidential race have yet to be announced, Gbagbo declared himself the “first president of the second republic of Ivory Coast.”
The final blow to General Guei came when Ivorian troops switched loyalties and burst into the grounds of the presidential palace.
Around 30 gendarmes and soldiers backed up by armoured personnel carriers rumbled into the palace on a wave of popular support from hundreds of thousands of Ivorians refusing to accept the general’s claim that he had won the election.
Ivory Coast’s military is now ready to serve Gbagbo, its chief-of-staff, General Soumalila Diabakate told national television.
The whereabouts of former military ruler Guei remain uncertain, though most reports suggest he has fled to Benin.
However, there will be no political honeymoon for Gbagbo, who said that he would not formally assume presidential powers until the official election results were announced.
Those results had been expected overnight, but the electoral commission president said more time was needed, amid rumours that some votes had been lost or destroyed.
Sunday’s election was mired in controversy since the Supreme Court barred all but five out of 19 candidates from standing.
Gbagbo was the only heavyweight candidate to challenge Guei at the polls.
South African President Thabo Mbeki called for new elections in Ivory Coast to include candidates who had been prevented from taking part, warning of the danger of “enormous conflict” in the west African nation.
Supporters of Alassane Ouattara, leader of Ivory Coast’s Rally of Republicans (RDR) and one of those barred from Sunday’s vote, called the election “illegitimate” and echoed the call for new all-inclusive polls.
“As we have said from the start, we do not recognise the result of this election, it is illegitimate and worthless,” RDR spokesman Ali Coulibaly said.
Gbagbo has held preliminary meetings with a stream of senior army and police officers, as well as members of the outgoing military government.