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Country awaits final presidential election result that could see 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara sworn in for fourth term.

Former Ivory Coast commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon has conceded defeat to incumbent Alassane Ouattara in the country’s presidential election, as early partial results show the latter with a strong lead nationwide.

“The initial results place the incumbent President, Mr Alassane Ouattara, in the lead, designating him the winner of this presidential election,” Billon said in a statement, congratulating the president on Sunday.

Billon was among four opposition candidates running against Ouattara, the 83-year-old former International Monetary Fund executive who is seeking a fourth term in office.

Billon failed to secure the endorsement of the opposition PDCI party, led by Tidjane Thiam – the ex-Credit Suisse chief who was barred from the ballot.

Earlier in the day, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission began announcing partial results from Saturday’s polls on national television.

“The results of 20 departments or divisions are being read out,” and 10 or 11 departments remain, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris said, reporting from the economic capital, Abidjan on Sunday. This included diaspora votes from six countries.

“This is the most critical stage of this election, where results from various polling booths and centres are being collated and announced,” Idris said.

“From the initial results, it’s clear the incumbent is leading by a wide margin in many of the areas so far.”

Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote in an election marked by a divided opposition further hobbled by the barring of two leading candidates.

“Ivorians are watching closely what happens here,” said Idris. “And the result of this election will determine whether or not the streets will remain calm.”

So far, the streets of Abidjan have remained quiet and calm, Idris reported, “apart from reports of scattered violence in other parts of the country that has led to two deaths”.

“Security patrols are all over the place; at least 44,000 security personnel have been deployed for this election before, during, and after, in case trouble breaks out,” he added.

Ouattara’s leading rivals – former President Laurent Gbagbo and Thiam – were barred from standing, Gbagbo for a criminal conviction and Thiam for acquiring French citizenship.

This led to pre-election protests and calls from some quarters for a boycott of the polls.

While an official voter turnout is not yet known, the president of the election commission, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, earlier put the figure at about 50 percent.

Polling stations in Abidjan and historically pro-opposition areas in the south and west were nearly empty, the AFP news agency reported. Meanwhile, it said voters turned out in large numbers in the north, where Ouattara had most of his support.

With key contenders out of the race, Ouattara was the overwhelming favourite.

Saturday’s vote was reminiscent of the last election in 2020, in which he obtained 94 percent of the ballots with a turnout slightly above 50 percent in an election then boycotted by the main opposition.

None of the four candidates who faced Ouattara represented a major party or had the reach of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace.

Slot felt Liverpool “did great business”, given all eight of their signings are aged 25 or under, and the club “should get praise” for the strategy it has adopted.

“I think it is only a compliment that people tell everyone we have spent so much because that tells you the players we brought in are seen as very good players,” explained the Dutchman.

“Some other teams prefer to bring in 27-year-olds because they are ready, but we think we have brought in players who are 21, 22 [and] who are ready.

“I think all the money we have spent we generated ourselves by selling, and by winning the league after we didn’t buy anyone at all.”

Isak did not feature in Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Burnley on Sunday – the first match since he joined the Reds – because he is still short of match fitness.

The 25-year-old trained alone at former club Newcastle, in a bid to force through his switch to Anfield, and needs extra work to get up to speed after missing pre-season.

Isak’s only appearance this season came for Sweden in an 18-minute cameo from the bench in a 2-0 defeat by Kosovo last week.

Slot said he is “100% sure” Isak will not play 90 minutes against Atletico but indicated he will play a part against the La Liga side.

“He [Isak] is part of the squad, so it’s already a Champions League game to look forward to, but if people look forward to his playing time, that could mean that could happen tomorrow as well,” Slot added.

“So the moment he is fit, match fit, [he] can play 90, and then the next step is playing three times in a week 90 minutes.

“And that is what he has to do; scoring goals and doing special things in attack is something he will 100% do. The main challenge he has is to become so fit that he’s first of all ready to do what he did last season.”

The Loose Women panellists are said to be worried that, as part of the upcoming shake-up at ITV, they are going to be axed from their jobs to make way for younger stars

Loose Women’s panellists are said to be worrying about their future as younger stars “take over.” It’s no secret that there has been panic backstage behind ITV’s midday show, with several of its leading ladies being vocal about the major changes which will come into play next year.

Last month, ITV announced a major overhaul of their daytime schedules, which affects both Loose and Lorraine Kelly’s self-titled morning programme. However, despite being hit with a mass loss of viewers, the magazine show This Morning remains unaffected. While both Lorraine and Loose air throughout the year, they will be axed to just 30 weeks of airtime.

Now, sources have said that older members of the panel, including Coleen Nolan, Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Denise Welch, Ruth Langsford and Linda Robson, no longer feel safe in their jobs. Kaye and Nadia are two of the original serving panellists from the show’s launch in 1999.

Reports claim that some of the older panellists fear they’ll be axed in favour of younger members of the panel, including GK Barry, Olivia Attwood, former singer Frankie Bridge and Stacey Solomon, who hasn’t been on the show since 2023. The younger panellists have millions of online followers and use social media platforms such as TikTok to their advantage.

Former singer Stacey has a staggering six million followers on her Instagram page alone. “The other girls feel like they can’t compete with Stacey’s stats,” a source told Closer magazine. The outlet goes on to claim that other members of the panel are being encouraged to build their online following on platforms such as TikTok, but this has been branded a “full-time job in itself.”

Bosses on the programme are reportedly telling panellists that any change is not a personal move, but that hasn’t gone down too well. “Nadia has been warning her co-stars it’s not about who you are anymore, but how many followers you have,” the insider added.

While final decisions are yet to be made, the source went on to comment: “In the long term, it could mean a farewell to the golden oldies. Coleen has been on the show, on and off, since 2000, a quarter of a century. Viewing numbers are down, and financial cuts have been made to save the ship and there’s a few that are expected to walk the plank.”

Nadia, however, has spoken publicly about the cuts. Speaking on her YouTube page, the actress and broadcaster said: “Do you know what, at the moment, all of us on screen are in work and are proud of what we do. But behind the scenes there are people that are really suffering, and what you don’t realise is when you attack the show you attack them, because you never see all the army of people behind the scenes and how hard they work.

“So to all my friends and colleagues behind the scenes who have just got a huge shock out of the blue, I’m so sorry. Mark knows how upset I’ve been at home about it. I just can’t bear it. So just be f*****g kind to people.”

She then added: “What people don’t realise at Loose Women is that we’re self-employed, I am self-employed. Every contract is a new contract. I could be let go tomorrow, in five years, you don’t know because we’re not employees.

“So I can’t tell you anything except I am on for my next contract. What has been brutal over the past week, and I am getting tearful about it, is that hundreds of people are going to be made redundant out of the blue. A lot of my friends and colleagues have been there for decades and I cannot tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear about what they are going to do. That has been so awful. It has been worse than whatever trolls have been saying about our show that we feel really protective of.”

Speaking previously of the fears the panellists are having, a Loose source told the Mirror: “We are not planning any radical changes to the panel. All of our Loose Women are hugely valued and we celebrate each and every one and the experience and opinions they bring to the show every day.

“Many of our long standing panellists have appeared on the show for the majority of its 25 year run on screens and those stalwart, Loose legends are at the core of the show’s success and hugely popular with the audience. The show remains a big priority within our daytime slate, having secured a BAFTA nomination, launched a podcast and celebrated a milestone anniversary in the last year alone.”

The Mirror has approached Loose Women, Nadia and Stacey’s spokespeople for comment.

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