IVORY COAST: Constitutional Council declares incumbent Laurent Gbagbo winner of a presidential poll, overturning provisional results that showed rival Alassane Ouattara as the victor

Record ID: 181705

  • Title: IVORY COAST: Constitutional Council declares incumbent Laurent Gbagbo winner of a presidential poll, overturning provisional results that showed rival Alassane Ouattara as the victor
  • Date: 4th December 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL ON ROAD IN FRONT OF OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS IN ABIDJAN ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (DECEMBER 3, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATIVE TO IVORY COAST, Y. J. CHOI, SAYING: "Even if we take into account the challenges expressed by the presidential party, and we eliminate the polling station results affected in these challenges, meaning the affected votes, the results don't change, I won't give percentages, but the results confirm again Mr Ouattara as the winner of the second round of presidential elections in Ivory Coast." JOURNALISTS FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATIVE TO IVORY COAST, Y. J. CHOI, SAYING: "We are taking this seriously. We have established a comprehensive strategy for the protection of civilians in Ivory Coast. We have means, and procedures we can apply, we are going to protect any civilians who find themselves in danger in Ivory Coast in a difficult situation." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES CHOI LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9HYIWTD0RCDOJ5ZXSCVQ0Q8CX
  • Story Text: Huge uncertainty loomed over Ivory Coast on Friday night (Dec. 3) after the country's constitutional court overturned a provisional election result showing opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the victor in the country's presidential poll and instead awarded the result to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.
    The move was implicitly rejected by the United Nations with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon supporting the result showing Ouattara as winner and congratulating him on his victory and urging incumbent Gbagbo to cooperate in a smooth transition of power.
    The U.N. representative to Ivory Coast Y.J. Choi said at a news conference, "the results confirm again Mr Ouattara as the winner of the second round of presidential elections in Ivory Coast."
    Ouattara's camp had vowed earlier in the day to reject any legal move to overturn the provisional result and had warned of a possible return to civil war.
    Ivory Coast is the world's largest grower of cocoa and the election was meant to reunite it after a 2002-03 civil war that split it in two and slashed investment flows.
    Gbagbo's allies said the provisional results from the Nov. 28 run-off election were marred by mass vote-rigging in the rebel-held north.
    After many delays, the election commission said on Thursday (Dec 2) that former IMF official Ouattara had won the Nov. 28 run-off with 54.1 percent of the vote compared with 45.9 percent for Gbagbo, the result which was overturned by the constitutional court.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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