Abidjan — After 48 long and uncertain hours the Ministry of the Interior in Cote d'Ivoire has announced that the incumbent military ruler, General Robert Guei has won Sunday's presidential election.
Guei's main rival, Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front or FPI has called on his supporters to come out onto the streets in protest.
The announcement followed 24 hours of utter confusion after soldiers marched into the CNE and ordered staff to stop broadcasting results live.
The ministry's director of territorial administration and a member of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Daniel Bamba Cheikh, declared Guei the winner with 52.72% of the vote.
At a press conference he said the veteran socialist, Laurent Gbagbo, trailed behind with 41.02%, Mr Cheikh said turnout was 47.56%.
The last official CNE announcement gave interim results late morning Monday putting Laurent Gbagbo ahead with 51% and General Guei behind with 40%. Gbagbo's camp which was doing a parallel count announced it's own interim results at lunchtime Monday giving Gbagbo 62% and Guei 26% after one million votes had been counted. They put turnout at 35%.
Mr Cheikh said the results that had been collated by the commission were "unusable" and that the totting up of the figures had been done in "total confusion".
He added that there was evidence of 'massive fraud' by certain political parties which had been noted by officials in and outside Abidjan, the commercial capital.
He called on Ivorians to be calm and dignified and show their patriotism. But the first signs of protest have begun in Yopougon, an FPI stronghold, and beyond Treichville, both 'quartiers populaires' both working class districts. A march is building in the airport area of Port Bouet along the Boulevard Giscard d'Estaing and moving towards Treichville.
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The declaration was preceded by commotion at the Commission when CNE chairman Honore Guié was ordered to leave his office by a group of soldiers. Witnesses said there was a ruckus when some of his staff tried to follow him, with the soldiers preventing them.
Mr Guié was finally escorted out by soldiers with several of his commission staff andn apparently taken to the president's office in a 4 x 4 vehicle. AllAfrica's reporter saw a stream of fast-moving sports utility vehicles with tinted windows race out of the CNE compound with several soldiers on board, toting guns.
The CNE has now been dissolved.
The city is calm, with most schools closed. The announcement came at lunchtime a period when many Abidjan residents are at home. The military presence on the streets is evident but not overwhelming.
