ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - President Laurent Gbagbo appeared set to face Ivory Coast's main opposition leader in a runoff that will decide this volatile West African nation's next leader, according to the latest results released Wednesday by the electoral commission.
The figures, which account for nearly three-quarters of ballots cast in Sunday's poll, showed Gbagbo in the lead with more than 36 per cent of the vote, according to an Associated Press tabulation. Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who is wildly popular in the formerly rebel-held north, had 33 per cent.
The vote was the first here since civil war split the world's biggest cocoa producer in two, leaving rebels in control of the north. The country officially reunited in a 2007 peace deal, but tensions remain.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council urged the candidates to remain committed "to a democratic, peaceful and transparent completion of the electoral process" and accept the outcome.
It also commended the Ivorian people "for their massive and peaceful participation in this crucial vote, which represents a historic step towards the restoration of sustainable peace."
Fears over possible violence if political rivals dispute results left many stores and stalls closed Wednesday in the main city, Abidjan, where some university classrooms were only half full.
At one local Internet cafe, a few young men checked election results online, but manager Pakome Nanguy complained that people weren't coming in like they normally do.
"They're afraid," he said. "But there's no reason to be. Everything has been calm and orderly."
The electoral commission has released results from about 3.4 million votes cast so far. About 5.7 million people were registered to vote, and turnout was around 80 to 85 per cent.
The commission is expected to finishing announcing results Wednesday night.
If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent, the top two finishers will face off in a second round Nov. 28.
The race pits Gbagbo, 65, against 13 challengers including 68-year-old Ouattara and 76-year-old ex-president Henri Konan Bedie, who was toppled in 1999 in the nation's first coup.
Bedie was in third place Wednesday with about 27 per cent.
Once a beacon of stability in a region better known for coups and war, Ivory Coast has been struggling to hold the election for years.
Gbagbo's five-year mandate officially expired in 2005, but he extended his stay in office arguing elections were impossible because armed rebels still controlled the northern half of the country.
The 2007 peace deal broke years of political stalemate, leading to the dismantlement of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone. But the vote was delayed again repeatedly because of disputes over voter rolls.
More than a quarter of the country's 20 million people are foreign immigrants who came to work on cocoa and coffee plantations in the south. Differentiating them from native Ivorians with roots and names common in neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso and Mali has taken years.
