₦airaland Forum

tanimz:
Pharoh! I dey vex with ya - serious vexing!

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The head of Ivory Coast's election commission on Thursday declared challenger Alassane Ouattara provisional winner of a presidential run-off, but the top legal body rejected it and the army sealed all borders.

The Constitutional Council, the body that must ratify the result, said the commission's announcement was illegal.

Later, Ivory Coast's military sealed air, land and sea borders, without giving any reasons for the move.

The media regulator said it had suspended the signal for French broadcaster Canal Plus Horizon. Satellite channel France24 and Radio France International FM were also off air.

[b]After repeated delays due to wrangling within his organisation over the results, election commission chairman Youssouf Bakayoko announced that Ouattara had won the November 28 vote with 54.1 percent of the vote.

"The electoral commission has, in accordance with the law, handed over to the Constitutional Council the results it has received and validated, accompanied by the result sheets," Bakayoko said at a hastily-organised news conference.

President Laurent Gbagbo's party, which is seeking the cancellation of results from four northern regions that are Ouattara strongholds, rejected the result.

Soon after the election commission statement, Paul Yao N'dre, a staunch ally of Gbagbo's who heads the Constitutional Council, which must confirm the results, said the poll body had missed a Wednesday deadline to issue provisional results.

"Once it's expired, the election commission is no longer authorised to announce results," he said on state television. "It is the Constitutional Council that is authorised to announce decisions on the contested results."

The Constitutional Council has seven days to give a final tally but N'Dre said final results could be expected in hours.[/b]

According to the election commission margin, the council would have to cancel nearly 400,000 votes to swing the result.

The U.N. Security Council warned Ivory Coast that it was prepared to take "appropriate measures," a diplomatic codeword for sanctions, against anyone thwarting the electoral process.

Later, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he "assures the people of Ivory Coast that the (U.N. mission) , will undertake all possible actions, within its mandate, to help keep the electoral process on track, to preserve peace and security in the country and to support their efforts to successfully conclude the peace process."

The United States also urged all parties in the Ivory Coast to respect the results.

"Credible, accredited electoral observers have characterized the balloting as free and fair, and no party should be allowed to obstruct further the electoral process," White House spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement.

The International Criminal Court issued a statement on Thursday saying it would be monitoring acts of violence.

The vote, delayed for five years, was meant to reunite the top cocoa grower, split in two by a 2002-2003 war, but has instead exposed north-south divisions and sparked violence.

Bakayoko surprised reporters by walking into the U.N.-guarded hotel in Abidjan which Ouattara has made his base and reading out results which had been blocked despite intense international pressure for them to be published.

Cheers erupted from Ouattara supporters gathered at the hotel, which has been placed under U.N. guard with a handful of armoured personnel carriers outside. Ouattara called on Gbagbo to stick by pledges he made before the poll to respect the results and said he planned a national unity government.

A Western diplomat told Reuters Bakayoko made the announcement in the hotel, rather than the electoral commission, because he feared for his personal safety.

There are widespread fears the electoral dispute will erupt into violence between Gbagbo's and Ouattara's youth supporters or between Ouattara's supporters and security forces.

COUNCIL DECISION EXPECTED

N'Dre said that the Constitutional Council would analyse the results and announce a definitive winner. Earlier, a spokesman for the council said it had the power to annul results in some provinces and tally accordingly.

Gbagbo's party has accused the rebels still controlling the north of the country of intimidation and of rigging the poll for Ouattara. The rebels have denied the charge and Ouattara's party accused Gbagbo of blocking the results of a poll he had lost.

Tensions have spiked during the uncertainty.

Security forces shot dead at least four people at a Ouattara party office in an Abidjan suburb overnight, while members of Gbagbo's party said they had been attacked at their residence in the same suburb by Ouattara's militants, leaving some wounded.

An opposition leader said another 12 were shot dead by security forces in downtown Abidjan.

Fears of unrest pushed cocoa prices up over four percent in Thursday trade. Many Ivorian exporters have suspended business.

The yield on Ivory Coast's $2.3 billion Eurobond ticked slightly higher, reaching 10.68 percent compared to its pre-vote levels of below 10 percent.

(Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Ange Aboa in Abidjan, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; writing by Mark John; editing by Andrew Roche)

[b]The electoral commission head had said opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara had defeated Mr Gbagbo.

The UN chief, the US, the EU, and former colonial power France have also endorsed Mr Ouattara as the winner.

The presidential poll was intended to reunify the world's largest cocoa producer after a civil war in 2002.

The two candidates represent the two sides of the north-south divide that exists religiously, culturally and administratively, with the northern half still controlled in part by the former rebels.

On Friday Paul Yao N'Dre, chairman of the Constitutional Council, which validates election results, said Mr Gbagbo had won a little more than 51% of the vote.
Continue reading the main story
Poll Results

* Constitutional Council: Laurent Gbagbo 51%, Alassane Ouattara 49%
* Electoral Commission: Laurent Gbagbo 46%, Alassane Ouattara 54%

He said results in seven regions in the north, where Mr Ouattara draws most of his support, had been annulled.

"The irregularities are of such a nature that they invalidate the vote," Mr N'Dre, an ally of President Gbagbo, said on national television.
[/b]

The council decision is likely to cause considerable unrest because of the widely accepted view here and among the international community that Alassane Ouattara won the vote.

The head of the council is a key ally of Laurent Gbagbo, and the two go back to the early days of his Ivorian Popular Front party.

All eyes now turn to the nearly 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission which has an official mandate in certifying these election results.

At the luxury Golf hotel in the Rivieria area of Abidjan UN tanks protected the building where Mr Ouattara and the electoral commissioner are thought to be sheltering.

The mission said it had received reports of violence in parts of the west and north on election day, but that overall the voting seemed to be peaceful and any irregularities did not overturn Mr Ouattara's lead.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also endorsed the original result on Friday, and congratulated Mr Ouattara "on his election".

US President Barack Obama and France's Nicolas Sarkozy issued similar statements, as did EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who urged "all parties to the electoral process to respect the will of the people".

Mr Ouattara has declared himself the new head of state.

The BBC's John James in Abidjan, the country's main city, says the Constitutional Council's decision has come as a shock to many, especially the opposition.

Youths from the opposing camps took to the streets in Abidjan and other towns, throwing stones and burning tyres.
Armed guard

The military has closed the borders and international news sources are suspended. An overnight curfew is in place.


On Friday an aide to Mr Gbagbo told Ivory Coast's state-run TV that he would call for the "immediate departure" of the UN representative in the country, Choi Young-jin.

The African Union said it was "deeply concerned" by the developments.

There have been dramatic scenes since Sunday over the declaration of the results.

On Tuesday, Mr Gbagbo's representative in the electoral commission tore up the first batch of results as the commission's spokesman was about to announce them.

The electoral commission head, Youssouf Bakayok, then went ahead with an announcement on Thursday, speaking under armed guard at a hotel rather than from the commission's headquarters, declaring Mr Ouattara the winner with 54% of ballots cast.

Not long afterwards, Mr N'Dre said that, as the announcement had come after Wednesday's legal deadline, those results were "null and void".

Both the army and UN peacekeepers have been patrolling the streets of Abidjan since Sunday.

At least four people have been killed in election-related clashes in Abidjan this week.

What? There is no point for a second round because , WHAT? Lol

I am sorry, are you sure you are following my own posts or coming up with your own there? Please focus!
There was initially NO DISPUTE, not until after the Constitutional Council took it on itself to throw out the results presented it by the INDEPENDENT Electoral commission, annulling votes, and then arriving at a result different from that presented it initially by the Electoral commission. In this case, the council did not annul the election or call for a recount, or even a runoff, which the constitution allows.

What do you mean by the above? Take over regularity of the election? If the committed responsible for compiling and presenting the Council with the results does its job, and the Council disagrees with it, what part of the constitution do you have there stating the Constitutional Council now TAKES OVER the regularity of the election?

The Constitution does not anywhere give it power to MODIFY or ANNUL in any way election results presented it by the INDEPENDENT election commission.

In case of events or of grave circumstances, notably of affect to the integrity of the territory, or of natural catastrophes rendering impossible the normal holding of the elections or the proclamation of the results, the President of the Commission charged with the elections immediately seizes the Constitutional Council to the end of declaring [constatation] on this situation. The Constitutional Council decides within twenty-four hours, to stop or to continue the electoral operations or of suspending the proclamation of the results. The President of the Republic informs the Nation by a message. He remains in [his] functions. In the case where the Constitutional Council orders the stoppage of the electoral operations or decides on the suspension of the proclamation of the results, the Commission charged with the elections establishes and communicates daily [with] it on the state of the evolution of the situation. When the Constitutional Council establishes the cessation of these events or of these grave circumstances, it establishes a new time period which cannot exceed thirty days for the proclamation of the results and ninety days for the holding of the elections.

In summary, that is what happened. The Constitutional Council threw out the decision of the independent party and instead declared it's own results.

The constitution states definitively that an INDEPENDENT electoral committee has responsibility of conducting an election and producing the final results

The system is a democratic system

kcjazz:
For Ouatarra, the Ivorian courts cleared him to contest the election and by the way he was a past PM. The issue is an election was won and lost, let the winner person lead the country. We will wait to see if a civil war will break out. Don't make Gbagbo a victim.

Kobojunkie:
So, you are telling me that there is evidence to support the Constitutional Council throwing out the results of an election conducted by an INDEPENDENT election committee, and then choosing instead to impose on the people, it's own choice candidate? Are you sure you have that right?

I posted a link to the Ivory Coast constitution earlier asking for anyone to show exactly where the constitution gives the Constitutional Council power to throw out the decision of the INDEPENDENT election committee, and declare it's choice candidate as president?

Article 98

The decisions of he Constitutional Council are not susceptible to any recourse. The [are] imposed on the public powers, on every administrative, jurisdictional, [and] military authority and on every physical and moral person.

Article 94

The Constitutional Council controls the regularity of the operations of the referendum and proclaims the results. The Council decides [statuer] on:

— the eligibility of the candidates to the presidential and legislative elections;

— the disputes concerning the election of the President of the Republic and of the Deputies.

The Constitutional Council proclaims the definitive results of the presidential elections.

kcjazz:
African leaders and conspiracy theorists are quick to blame Western influence when they lose an election, a leader needs to take responsibility for his actions or inactions and serve the people.
Alassane Ouattara is a Muslim and a citizen of the Ivory Coast (even though that has being disputed in the past). I find it hard to believe that a sitting African leader like Gbagbo can be out rigged in an election, when an African leader starts talking about unity government after electoral disputes it is highly suspicious. The maths does not add up.
By the way, I doubt you need only one side of the divide to win an election, hence a percentage of both regions ought to be met for a winner. If Gbagbo loves his country, he should step aside and obey the will of the people. By the way he has being there since 2000.

tanimz:
Pharoh!

dayokanu:
Final score

Stuttgart 3 Bayern 6

What a game

FBS:
Benzeeeeeeeeeeema! 
on a hat-trick now?!