Overview
- Polling runs from 08:00 to 18:00 GMT for roughly 8.7 million registered voters, with results expected early next week and a runoff if no candidate tops 50 percent.
- Key challengers Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam were barred, leaving Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, Jean‑Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello and Henriette Lagou Adjoua without major party machinery to take on the RHDP.
- Authorities deployed about 44,000 security personnel, banned demonstrations, made hundreds of arrests and secured three‑year prison terms for several dozen protesters, with a curfew in the Yamoussoukro region after unrest including a torched CEI office and at least four deaths.
- Turnout—especially in southern and western opposition strongholds where boycotts have been urged—will shape perceptions of legitimacy, as domestic and ECOWAS/AU observers monitor the vote.
- Ouattara campaigns on years of rapid growth and new infrastructure since 2011, yet high poverty and youth joblessness continue to drive skepticism among younger voters.