ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The United Nations has urged Ivory Coast election rivals to refrain from violence while officials try to determine who won a presidential runoff.
The Army sealed borders after Ivory Coast's electoral commission announced that opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara defeated incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, the BBC reported.
However, the Constitutional Council said the announcement is invalid, alleging voter fraud by Ouattara.
The army announced it closed Ivory Coast borders. It also said it would suspend foreign news organizations from reporting issues.
The election, the first presidential election in a decade, was intended to reunify the nation, which was torn by a civil war in 2002.
The United Nations received reports of violence in parts of the west and north during recent voting but said overall the election seemed peaceful.
"Our job is to remind them of their promises and commitments and especially not to use violence," said U.N. spokesman Hamadoun Toure.
"They have to abide by electoral law, they have to keep their promise during the campaigning that they won't use violence to settle disputes and they also said they'd abide by the results," Toure said.
The Constitutional Council has one week to publish official results of the election.
Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa.
