The border would remain closed until further notice, Gohourou added.

The move was necessitated after the election commission (CEI) chairman Youssoufu Bakayoko on Thursday evening announced that opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara has won with 54.10% of votes against incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo who scored 45.9%.

The provisional results were rejected an hour later by Yao N’Dri, chairman of the Constitutional Council – the judicial arbitrator of electoral issues – on the ground that the CEI was no longer competent to pronounce the results having elapsed the constitutional three-day period.

The Ivorian constitution stipulates that the election commission must release results of presidential elections latest three days after the end of the vote, which expired on Wednesday by midnight. But the CEI was hindered from announcing partial results on Tuesday by representatives of Gbagbo, because, according to them, the results were yet to be certified by all the members of the commission.

The ruling LMP party had lodged in complaints of “massive frauds in the rebel-held northern part of the country” against the opposition RHDP party. But the rebel movement denied any irregularities, accusing Gbagbo of wanting to remain in power after losing the polls.

Almost all the independent observers from the European Union, Carter Center, African Union, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), say the vote was free and fair, despite “minor and isolated irregularities that could not discredit the entire polls.”

Reactions

The UN Security Council on Thursday threatened to take appropriate actions against any attempt to abort the efforts of the CEI.

“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their willingness to take appropriate action against those who impede the electoral process and in particular the work of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI),” said Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the UN and current President of the Security Council for the month of December.

Immediately after the announcement, Ouattara thanked his biggest allied former President Henri Konan Bédié for “making this victory a reality.” Bédié, who finished third in the first round with a vital 25% score, had called on his supporters to vote for Ouattara.

Ouattara also said he wanted to reunite Ivorians by forming an open government to include members of Gbagbo’s party.

Possible consequences

The constitutional council whose president Yao N’Dri is a close collaborator of Gbagbo and whose members were named by Gbagbo and his party’s vice president Mamadou Koulibaly, will likely annul votes from the contested region of the north favorable to Ouattara and hand victory to Gbagbo.

The rebel forces, FAFN, and population of the northern part of the country will revolt, wildly. The rebels would likely announce not recognizing Gbagbo as a legitimate president and will continue holding the northern part of the country. And if Gbagbo attempts to use military confrontation to disarm the rebels, another outbreak of a civil is to be feared.

If the constitutional council pronounced Gbagbo winner, Ouattara and Bédié supporters might take to the streets of Abidjan and in the hinterland to demonstrate. Police and soldiers would likely use tough means to break the riots, and this would spark a real armed showdown between factions of the military in support of the opposition and those loyal to the incumbent president. Not forgetting a number of civilians who are currently arming themselves with riffles and cutlasses. Fear another Rwanda!

Solutions

The international community needs to use greater pressure on both candidates to put the interest of the nation and masses above personal ambitions.

African Union and ECOWAS leaders need to start sending delegations to negotiate with both Gbagbo and Ouattara and the Constitutional Council, before things get out of hand.

A combined pressure from African leaders and the international community might lead to one of the two candidates making an important concession, which is visibly the only peaceful way out of an impasse.