Côte d’Ivoire / UNOCI head announces new arrangements for the second round of the Ivorian presidential election
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, November 25, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, on Thursday, 25 November 2010, announced the new measures taken to reinforce the transparency and credibility of the presidential election and safeguard the results.
Speaking during the weekly press conference of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), three days before the second round of the poll, Mr. Choi explained that the measures were taken in collaboration with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Concerning the transparency and credibility of the election, the Special Representative explained that significant improvements had been made in the vote counting process and the transportation and security of the tally reports. This concerns mainly the transportation of the tally reports in Abidjan and Bouaké. “Following a proposal from UNOCI, the IEC agreed that the UN Mission will transport all the tally reports from polling stations in Abidjan and Bouaké, to its main headquarters via the local, communal, departmental and regional electoral commissions,” Mr. Choi explained, adding that UNOCI will mobilize all the necessary means (military, civilian and police) to provide security. ”In addition, UNOCI will provide more than 400 vehicles to transport the tally reports and IEC chairmen, as well as representatives of the candidates who so wish,” the Special Representative added.
In the rest of the country, UNOCI will also provide air and ground transportation for the tally reports from the local electoral commissions to the IEC’s headquarters in Abidjan, under UN military and police escort. Mr. Choi explained that transportation of individual tally reports between some 9000 voting sites and the local electoral commissions was the responsibility of the IEC, which has financial support from the international community and logistical support from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), as was the case during the first round of the election.
In this regard, the head of UNOCI announced that Japan, the European Union and Switzerland had provided 450 million FCFA so that each local electoral commission could receive 50,000 FCFA to rent a vehicle to transport the tally reports from the polling stations to the local electoral commissions, in addition to the vehicles provided by UNOPs. “We want not only to increase the means of transport but also improve transparency by allowing representatives of the candidates to be transported in the same convoy as the chairman of the local electoral commission and the tally reports and to monitor the transporting of the tally reports,” he further explained.
Mr. Choi announced two other important measures taken by the IEC with regard to improving the transparency and credibility of the poll – these are the posting of the tally reports in each of the polling stations and the local, departmental and regional commissions. An official copy of the tally reports will be given to representatives of the two candidates before they are taken to the local electoral commission. “The representatives of the candidates will also be authorised to observe the counting of votes and the tallying of the results,” he insisted.
UNOCI’s chief welcomed the decision to progressively announce the partial results from the evening of 28 November, thereby avoiding the tension and speculation that had occurred while people were waiting during the first round.
Having outlined all the measures taken, Mr. Choi said he believed that the real challenge will not be the reliability or credibility of the IEC but the spreading of rumours, fear, speculation and unfounded suspicions, as was the case during the first round. “At this historic moment, we cannot allow ourselves to be taken over by negative sentiments,” he insisted.
Regarding the announcement of the results, Mr. Choi recalled that the IEC was the only competent authority to announce the election results. In this regard, he reiterated the international community’s commitment to remain firmly beside Ivorians and the IEC in order to safeguard the results of the second round.
In conclusion, he recalled the ways of challenging the results laid down in the Constitution and the electoral law of Côte d’Ivoire.
Responding to a question on the Security Council’s decision to send reinforcement for security provisions for the election, Mr. Choi said that the 360 elements from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) will be supporting the Ivorian forces who are in charge of providing security for the electoral process.
SOURCE
Mission of UN in Côte d’Ivoire
