ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A senior advisor to Ivroy Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has described the announcement of results by the country’s electoral commission showing a victory for the opposition as “an attempted coup.”
Richard Assamoa’s statement to The Associated Press indicates the ruling party is not willing to accept results announced Thursday evening by the head of the country’s electoral body. The results showed opposition leader Alassane Ouattara had won with 54.1 percent.
The ruling party had prevented for days the commission from releasing results, with officials loyal to Gbagbo going so far as to disrupt a press conference where the election chief attempted to read out the tallies.
On Thursday, the head of the electoral body snuck into a fancy hotel where he quickly announced the results before being whisked away.
