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Latest update: 03/12/2010
- Ivory Coast - presidential elections
Ivory Coast must break election deadlock by midnight
Ivory Coast’s first election in ten years remains deadlocked as the ruling party refuses to issue results of four key regions under former rebel rule. The electoral commission has until midnight Wednesday to issue provisional results.
AP - With only hours to go before the midnight deadline for the release of Ivory Coast’s provisional election results, the electoral commission remained deadlocked Wednesday as the country’s ruling party continued to prevent the issuance of partial results.
Electoral commission members and diplomats who were allowed to enter the commission’s office said that the feuding parties had agreed on results from 13 of the 19 regions of the country, representing a majority of the votes cast.
But commissioners loyal to the ruling party were preventing the publication of partial results and were contesting four key regions, all strongholds of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, said one commissioner and two foreign diplomats who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
“This wait has caused a state of uncertainty and it worries me as a candidate,” Ouattara told reporters at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “It is imperative that the president of the electoral commission proclaims the results.”
He said that he called on Gbagbo to respect the outcome of the vote, and vowed to do the same.
Late Tuesday in a bizarre showdown on national television, officials backing the ruling party physically prevented the commission’s spokesman from announcing a large share of results. The officials stood in front of TV cameras as the spokesman attempted to speak and then they yanked the results from his hand and tore them up as the cameras rolled.
This election is the first in 10 years following a civil war that destroyed the economy of the world’s top cocoa producer and sent foreign investors and the nation’s large expatriate community packing. The country was divided into two, with President Laurent Gbagbo ruling the government-controlled south while the north, where Ouattara comes from, remained in rebel hands.
Gbagbo’s government delayed the election multiple times including in February when he dissolved the government weeks before the proposed poll date. He led the first round of voting in October with 38 percent to Ouattara’s 32 percent. Ouattara has since won the endorsement of the third-place contestant who received 25 percent.
Pascal Affi N’Guessan, Ggabo’s campaign chief, held a press conference Wednesday to say they were asking for four regions to be invalidated, claiming their voters had been intimidated including in precincts where mobs showed up wielding machetes.
All four of the regions are Ouattara strongholds, and in three of the four the longtime opposition leader netted over 85 percent of the votes in the first round.
N’Guessan acknowledged that the ruling party had prevented the proclamation of partial results Tuesday night explaining that they did so because the rules were not properly followed.
“(Election Commission Spokesman) Bamba Yacouba did not respect the procedures of the electoral commission. He had to be stopped,” he said.
In a statement released Tuesday and published by many Ivory Coast dailies, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for the two sides to allow the election to go forward.
“We strongly urge the candidates to allow the tallying and reporting of results to proceed unhindered, and to honor the results when they are announced,” she said. “The hard work of democracy does not end when the votes are tallied and the winners announced. It continues in the daily effort to find common ground, govern responsibly.”
During the first round, results started trickling in immediately after polls closed and the election commission released them piecemeal, allowing a general picture to emerge well before the final tally was announced. By law, the election commission has until midnight Wednesday to issue provisional results. The electoral code is unclear on what happens if the deadline passes.
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Comments (1)
I ASKED FOR THE HELP OS THE USA IN IVORY COAST CRISIS
I AM USING THIS LITTLE TIME CALL UPON THE USA GOVERNMENT TO LOOK INTO IVORY CAOST PROBLEM BECAUSE WE NOTICE THAT THE RULING PRESIDENT HAVE A BAD AMBTION CONCERNING THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.WE ARE VERY MUCH AFRAID OF ETHNIC WAR IF TIME IS NOT TAKING.
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