Challenger Contests Ivory Coast Results
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Opposition presidential candidate Laurent Gbagbo said Tuesday that he will ask the Supreme Court to overturn election results he says were rigged by President Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
The Interior Ministry announced that the leader of 30 years won Sunday’s balloting with 81.67% of votes in the country’s first contested presidential election.
Gbagbo, the sole challenger, told reporters that lawyer Emile Boga, a leading member of his Popular Front, was preparing papers to present to the Supreme Court. Election results remain unofficial until they are declared by the court, an announcement expected next week. The court, appointed by Houphouet-Boigny, also hears appeals about elections.
Boga said about 100 opposition party members have been arrested since Sunday, when Gbagbo’s supporters smashed dozens of ballot boxes. They charged that the boxes were stuffed with votes for Houphouet-Boigny.
The lawyer said the detainees were being held at an army camp, and that some of them were being beaten and ill-treated.
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