Credit:  Sara Abraham  /  ©Diplomatic Times  /  Nov. 4, 2020.   Life goes on in bustling market in Adjamé  section of  commercial city  Abidjan  in Côte d’Ivoire  after President Alassane Ouattara wins bid for third term. 

By Sara Abraham       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

ABIDJAN –  Côte d’Ivoire  –  Security forces in Ivory Coast on Wednesday surrounded the homes of opposition leaders after they rejected President Alassane Ouattara’s re-election and vowed  to set up a “transitional government”.    Alassane Ouattara  won a third term in power as President of Ivory Coast after a controversial  election in the West African nation that was boycotted by the opposition.  President Ouattara, who broke a promise not to seek a third term, garnered 94 percent of the vote. The main opposition candidates boycotted the election and called on supporters to stay at home as an act of civil disobedience.  Opposition leader Pascal Affi N’Guessan had told reporters late on Monday that opposition parties and groups were forming a “council of national transition”.  

Credit:  Sara Abraham  /  ©Diplomatic Times /  Nov. 4, 2020.  Most streets in commercial city Abidjan were calm and quiet today with no reports of violence. 

The mood among Ivorians is one of fatigue and a desire for peace and reconciliation .   N’Guessan,  and Henri Konan Bédié, the main opposition of Ouattara, refused to recognize his  electoral victory labeling  it a “sham” and vowed to form an alternative “transitional government”.  The move is certain to aggravate and deepen political tensions in Ivory Coast with many fearing the potential for violence.   Justice Minister Sansan Kambile accused the opposition of “acts of assault and plotting against the authority of the state”.