- Title: IVORY COAST: UN urges rivals to accept vote result
- Date: 2nd November 2010
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (NOVEMBER 1, 2010) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATIVE TO IVORY COAST ENTERING PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VARIOUS OF CHOI SITTING NEXT TO IVORIAN PRESIDENT LAURENT GBAGBO (SOUNDBITE) (French) U.N. REPRESENTATIVE TO IVORY COAST, Y. J. CHOI, SAYING: "It's very positive particularly as who could have imagined that the rate of participation would reach such heights? We're talking about even more than 80 percent and no major incident. So it's exemplary not only for this region and Africa but all the international community." VARIOUS OF CHOI MEETING WITH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HENRI KONAN BEDIE CHOI WALKING OUT OF A ROOM WITH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ALASSANE OUATTARA (IN BLUE) GBAGBO PARTY HEADQUARTERS, ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (NOVEMBER 1, 2010) (REUTERS) GBAGBO SUPPORTERS SITTING IN FRONT OF GBAGBO HEADQUARTERS WATCHING BIG SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (French) MISS KOUDOU, GBAGBO SUPPORTER, SAYING: "Yes I think that Laurent Gbagbo will bring us the victory. That's the tendency we're seeing for the moment, we look we take down the results, we're writing down the results, but we think it will go ok. We are confident." POLICE IN FRONT OF GBAGBO HEADQUARTERS GBAGBO SUPPORTERS TAKING NOTES OF VARIOUS RESULTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) GBAGBO SUPPORTER, STANISLAS TAPE, SAYING: "Yes, we are hoping a lot the results will be accepted by every candidate that lost, that's it, because we are truly tired with this violence the country has been sunk into for the last 10 years, the cause of all the poverty we talk about, the poverty we feel, that's what I wanted to say." VARIOUS OF GBAGBO SUPPORTERS TAKING POLLING NOTES ALASSANE OUATTARA PARTY HEADQUARTERS, HOTEL GOLF, ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (NOVEMBER 1, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SITTING IN FRONT OF BIG SCREEN VARIOUS OF OUATTARA SUPPORTERS TAKING POLLING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUATTARA SUPPORTER, MOUSSA KONATE, SAYING: "My candidate (to win), which is RDR, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, but it must be said that overall it's Ivory Coast who won because the president elect won't be just for RDR or another, FPI (Popular Front of the Ivory Coast), etc, there will be only one president for the entire Ivory Coast. The maturity this has brought us, meaning the maturity of the Ivorian youth in the political arena that this election has brought us is the first victory we've had, and we've won that last Friday." MORE OF OUATTARA SUPPORTERS TAKING NOTES BALLOON WITH OUATTARA PICTURE ON AND READING "ADO SOLUTIONS FOR MY COUNTRY"
- Embargoed: 17th November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAB0L44JBOO1DO4P1SN0ABVTSW
- Story Text: Candidates in Ivory Coast's Long-delayed presidential election came under growing international pressure on Monday (November 1) to accept the still unpublished results of a poll that saw a turnout of more than 80 percent.
The United Nations' top official in Ivory Coast, Y.J. Choi, met President Laurent Gbagbo and his main rivals Henri Konan Bedie, an ex-president ousted in a 1999 coup, and Alassane Ouattara, a former prime minister and IMF official, to try to ensure they all accepted the verdict of Sunday's ballot.
"Who could have imagined that the rate of participation would reach such heights? We're talking about even more than 80 percent and no major incident. So it's exemplary not only for this region and Africa but all the international community," Choi said after meeting Gbagbo at his residence in Abidjan's leafy, tropical suburb of Cocody.
Sunday's vote in the world's top cocoa-grower is meant to reunite a country torn in two by a 2002-2003 civil war and whose economy suffered from political deadlock that has prevented reform and forced six postponements of elections to date.
All three main contenders said they were so far happy with the vote and held post-election events overnight during which they tallied results streaming in from their representatives.
Ballot papers are being transferred to the main city of Abidjan by U.N. peacekeepers, who will audit the counting.
But supporters of various candidates tried to do their bit by gathering results phoned in by relatives and friends living in towns and villages peacefully in front of their respective party headquarters, all hoping for the victory.
"Yes I think that Laurent Gbagbo will bring us the victory. That's the tendency we're seeing for the moment, we look we take down the results, we're writing down the results, but we think it will go ok. We are confident," said a woman from Abidjan.
Gbagbo supporters, like their rivals from other candidates' camps all tried to tally results they received from friends and family living in villages across the country.
The national election commission has until Wednesday to tally and announce votes from across the country. There are fears that losing candidates could reject the result and call their supporters onto the streets, as in past polls.
"We are hoping a lot the results will be accepted by every candidate that lost, that's it, because we are truly tired with this violence the country has been sunk into for the last 10 years, the cause of all the poverty we talk about, the poverty we feel, that's what I wanted to say," Gbagbo supporter Stanislas Tape said in front of his party's headquarters.
Over at the headquarters of Gbagbo's opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara, the mood was also positive.
"Overall it's Ivory Coast who won because the president elect won't be just for RDR or another, FPI (Popular Front of the Ivory Coast), etc, there will be only one president for the entire Ivory Coast. The maturity this has brought us, meaning the maturity of the Ivorian youth in the political arena that this election has brought us is the first victory we've had, and we've won that last Friday," said Moussa Konate. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
