Opposition Demands Immediate Release of Ivory Coast Election Results
Scott Stearns | Abidjan 01 December 2010
Ivory Coast's opposition candidate is calling for the immediate release of results from Sunday's presidential election. Those results have been delayed by supporters of the current president who has extended an overnight curfew.
Former prime minister Alassane Ouattara said it is imperative the electoral commission immediately declare the results of this vote. He said the delay worries voters who have been waiting nearly three days.
By law, the electoral commission has until Midnight to announce a winner. The results have been delayed, however, by supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, who are insisting that the commission annul results from northern regions where they say the Ouattara campaign engaged in electoral fraud.
Electoral commissioner Damana Adia Pickass is from the Gbagbo campaign. He said announcing those results would amount to an electoral coup d'etat, and Gbagbo supporters should stay calm as the president's allies work to publish only credible results.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined Mr. Ouattara in calling for the electoral commission to meet its Wednesday deadline for announcing a winner.
Ouattara campaign director Marcel Amon Tanoh said President Gbagbo's interference with the work of the electoral commission shows he knows he has been beaten. He said if Laurent Gbagbo knew he was going to win, he would not have prevented the electoral commission from announcing results on state-run television. Tanoh said doing so shows that the president knows he has lost.
Observers from the U.S.-based Carter Center say there were serious electoral crimes during Sunday's vote, including the destruction of election materials and voter intimidation, as well as the theft of ballot boxes. They say it is not yet clear, though, if those irregularities will affect the overall credibility of the vote.
Carter Center Peace Programs Vice President John Stremlau says it is now up to Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Ouattara to conclude this electoral process peacefully. "They must show the statesmanship and civility and commitment to the broader national interests they demonstrated in their debate last Thursday evening. And leaders must take responsibility for the actions of their supporters and reign in any tendency toward violence that could undermine the enormous progress made so far."
Days before this vote, Gbagbo imposed an overnight curfew that was to have expired early Thursday. That curfew has been extended through Sunday.
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