UN increase diplomatic efforts to solve Côte d'Ivoire presidential election controversy

UN increase diplomatic efforts to solve Côte d'Ivoire presidential election controversy

2010-12-08 04:33:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- United Nations on Tuesday intensified its diplomatic efforts regarding Côte d’Ivoire where outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo insists he won the presidential elections despite the UN and other independent commissions say otherwise.

The United Nations mission in the country reported on Friday that it validated and recognized the victory of opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara as announced by the Independent Electoral Commission.

However, the Constitutional Council on Friday overturned Sunday's run-off results and declares incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo as winner. The council annulled results in seven regions and informed that Gbagbo won 51 percent of the votes as Ouattara only 49 percent.

A meeting was held on Tuesday at the UN Headquarters in New York and had the participation of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Y. J. Choi via video conference from Abuja, Nigeria.

Choi certified once more the victory of Outtara as president-elect and called Gbabo to leave the helm of the nation in the best interests of its people. Choi also praised the UN's role in the conduct of the elections under democratically acceptable conditions.

"Considering the distance Côte d'Ivoire has traveled, ignoring the will of the Ivorian people at this stage would be a let down of the people of Côte d’Ivoire and a waste of significant resources invested over the past eight years by the international community," Choi said.

Choi's certification was in accordance to the results unveiled by the Côte d’Ivoire's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) regarding the November 28 run-off vote, giving Ouattara 54.1 percent of the vote to 45.9 percent for incumbent President Gbagbo.

The Special Representative highlighted that the Independent Electoral Commission also suffered internal divisions exacerbated by security forces. However, Choi stressed that even disallowing all the canceled votes would not undo Ouattara's victory.

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