Vowing to deliver “generational” change, President Alassane Ouattara was sworn in Monday for a fourth term as leader of the Ivory Coast, after elections in which his two main opponents were excluded from the ballot.

Ouattara, 83, was re-elected with nearly 90 percent of the vote in the October 25 election, though turnout in the west African nation was a relatively low 50.1 percent.

“This term will be one of generational transmission; it will be, for me and our nation, an act of responsibility and political maturity,” he said in a speech after his swearing-in at the presidential palace in Abidjan.

The president, who has led Ivory Coast since a violently disputed election in 2010, also vowed to “loyally defend the constitution” at his inauguration.

“I remain the president of all Ivorians, without distinction, serving solely the general interest,” the veteran politician, who turns 84 next month, said.

– ‘Profoundly changed’ –

In his address, Ouattara said that the Ivory Coast had “profoundly changed” since he first took power.

“We have restored the authority of the state, consolidated peace, strengthened national cohesion and our institutions. We have ensured security throughout the national territory,” he said.

Leaders from 11 African countries attended the ceremony at the presidential palace in the economic capital Abidjan, as well as former leaders such as Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou.

Former colonial ruler France, which maintains good relations with Ivory Coast, was represented by National Assembly Speaker Yael Braun-Pivet.

The United States sent Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg, who was due to meet Ouattara later in the day.

Ouattara’s two main electoral opponents, Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, were excluded from October’s polls — Gbagbo due to a criminal conviction and Thiam over nationality issues.

During the election campaign, two high-ranking opposition figures were also arrested and accused of “terrorist acts” — Damana Pickass, Gbagbo’s right-hand man and Soumaila Bredoumy, spokesperson for Thiam’s party.

Neither Gbagbo, Ouattara’s predecessor, nor Thiam attended Monday’s ceremony.

Although the election passed off generally peacefully, 11 people died before or on the day of the vote in protests or intercommunal clashes.

Demonstrations had been banned on the grounds of a risk of public disorder and some 400 people who defied the ban were handed three-year jail terms, according to their lawyers.

Ivory Coast will hold legislative elections on December 27 but Gbagbo’s party has said it will not stand.

– Friend to all, enemy to none –

Ouattara first came to power following a presidential clash between him and Gbagbo in 2010 and 2011, which cost more than 3,000 lives.

Throughout his time in power, Ouattara has been among the foremost critics of the coups to have plagued the region, most recently in Guinea-Bissau, as well as an attempted coup in Benin on Sunday.

That stance has earned him the enmity of several fellow west African leaders, in particular the Sahel juntas in neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

Ouattara, however, insists that his foreign policy remains guided by the maxim: “Ivory Coast, friend to all and enemy to no one.”

On the question of his potential successor, a subject of constant speculation since the death of his previously anointed replacement, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Ouattara said that some handover of power to those younger than him would take place, in line with his ambition of “generational transmission”.