Ivory Coast council overturns opposition election victory - Summary

Fri, 03 Dec 2010

Nairobi/Abidjan (Earth Times - dpa) - Ivory Coast's constitutional council has overturned opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara's election win, handing victory to President Laurent Gbagbo in a move that could spark renewed violence.

United Nations head Ban Ki-moon has rejected the decision, saying Ouattara is the rightful president-elect.

Gbagbo and Ouattara, a former prime minister and senior International Monetary Fund official, contested an election aimed at putting to bed the ghost of the 2002 civil war, which split the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.

The council announced Gbagbo had polled 51.5 per cent, in contrast to a Thursday announcement by the electoral commission giving Ouattara 54 per cent.

The turnaround came after the council, run by Gbagbo ally Paul Yao N'Dre, annulled the votes in seven regions in Ouattara strongholds in the former rebel north of the country.

Gbagbo had claimed his supporters were prevented from voting in many northern regions. The council said the results were annulled due to flagrant irregularities that "tainted the sincerity of the poll."

The constitutional council dismissed the electoral commission's results released on Thursday, saying it had no right to proclaim a victor as it had missed a Wednesday deadline to release figures.

The regime then closed all borders and blocked the signals of all foreign television and radio news services.

Ouattara called on the country to stay calm, but said he did not accept the constitutional court's decision and considered himself Ivory Coast's new president.

There were reports of youths protesting in the streets of the economic capital, Abidjan, burning tires and throwing rocks.

The former northern rebel group New Forces, headed by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, said it did not recognize Gbagbo as the poll winner.

"The New Forces adhere to the provisional results proclaimed by the independent electoral commission, which declared Mr Alassane Ouattara victor of the presidential election," spokesperson Affoussy Bamba said in a statement on the group's website.

YJ Choi, the head of the UN mission in Ivory Coast, also backed the electoral commission in the first wave of what is expected to be international endorsement of Ouattara's earlier reported victory.

"The results ... announced on December 2 by the electoral commission haven't changed, which confirms that the candidate Alassane Ouattara won the election," he said.

Ban backed his envoy, congratulating Ouattara and urging him "to work towards lasting peace, stability and reconciliation."

France and the United States have called for the election results to be respected, while the UN Security Council earlier also warned it would take "appropriate measures" against anybody who tried to obstruct the electoral process.

The African Union, in a statement released shortly after the constitutional council ruled, warned Ivory Coast should "respect the will of the people."

"Any other approach risks plunging Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) into a crisis with incalculable consequences for the country, as well as for the region and the continent as a whole," the statement said.

Both men have been accused of inflaming their supporters through tit-for-tat accusations.

Violence has already blighted the election, with more than a dozen people killed in clashes, and Ouattara's supporters are sure to be outraged by the move.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay and Ban warned the two candidates they would be held to account for any further violence carried out by their supporters, while the International Criminal Court also said it was monitoring events.

Ivory Coast has been in crisis since 2002 when Gbagbo, who came to power in the wake of violent demonstrations at the 2000 presidential elections, survived a coup attempt.

The failed coup sparked a brief civil war, which divided the country into the government-controlled south and rebel-controlled north. A 2007 peace deal brought Soro into the government.

The presidential poll had been postponed six times since 2005.