Ivory Coast approves new constitution, opposition claims fraud

President Alassane Ouattara.

Voters in Ivory Coast overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in a weekend referendum, according to provisional results announced by the elections commission on Tuesday, though opposition groups denounced the turnout figure as fraudulent.

President Alassane Ouattara had argued that the new charter would help the nation turn the page on a decade-long crisis that was capped by a 2011 civil war and create the stability needed to cement its status as Africa's rising economic star.