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Ivory Coast President Ouattara easily wins re-election

A man that collected ocean water runs past a fishing boat named 'Only God Can Do' at a fishing village renowned as a tourist hot spot visited by French and other tourist yearly in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Ivory Coast voters await result after elections on Sunday as the West African nation held its first presidential election since a disputed vote five years ago. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
A man that collected ocean water runs past a fishing boat named 'Only God Can Do' at a fishing village renowned as a tourist hot spot visited by French and other tourist yearly in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Ivory Coast voters await result after elections on Sunday as the West African nation held its first presidential election since a disputed vote five years ago. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) A man that collected ocean water runs past a fishing boat named 'Only God Can Do' at a fishing village renowned as a tourist hot spot visited by French and other tourist yearly in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Ivory Coast voters await result after elections on Sunday as the West African nation held its first presidential election since a disputed vote five years ago. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

By Associated Press 3 min read

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) – Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara easily won re-election in the first vote since a disputed poll five years ago sparked violence that killed thousands in the West African economic powerhouse, the electoral commission announced early Wednesday.

Ouattara received nearly 84 percent of Sunday’s vote, trouncing the opposition, according to results read out by Youssouf Bakayoko, the head of the commission. Ouattara needed to get more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff.

The results will now be sent to the constitutional court to be validated, Bakayoko said.

Ouattara was the heavy favorite long before the campaign began. As the country awaited official tallies Tuesday, he said the vote had allowed Ivory Coast to “turn the page on the crisis our country went through” after the election five years ago.

In that contest, Ouattara defeated ex-president Laurent Gbagbo in a runoff but Gbagbo refused to step down, leading to violence that killed more than 3,000 people and dragged on until Gbagbo’s arrest in April 2011. Gbagbo is set to go on trial next month for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.