Voting ended Saturday in Ivory Coast for a new president, with incumbent Alassane Ouattara expected to win a fourth term against a divided opposition further hobbled by the barring of two leading candidates.

One senior opposition figure has already dismissed the vote as “electoral robbery”.

Ouattara, 83, has wielded power in the world’s top cocoa producer since 2011, when the country began reasserting itself as a west African economic powerhouse.

Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote in the polls, which closed at 6:00 pm (1800 GMT), choosing between five contenders.

Turnout was expected to be a key factor. Polling stations in the economic capital Abidjan visited by AFP in the afternoon were not crowded but there were many more voters in the second city Bouake, a Ouattara s

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