Ivory Coast was in lockdown Friday with all borders sealed and foreign broadcasts jammed as President Laurent Gbagbo's allies rejected election results that showed him beaten by his rival. World powers sharpened their warnings to Ivorian leaders to settle the dispute peacefully, but the chaos in the west African state deepened after days of bloodshed and fraud allegations that have disrupted the landmark vote.
On Thursday the electoral commission (CEI) announced that provisional results showed opposition leader Alassane Ouattara had beaten Gbagbo in the disputed polls by 54 percent to 46. But top Gbagbo ally Paul Yao N'Dre, the head of the country's Constitutional Council which has the final say on elections, said the results were invalid since the commission had over-run the legal deadline for releasing its results.