Ivorian crisis: EU presents final report to ECOWAS

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

The European Union Observation Mission to Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday presented its final report on the presidential election held in that country in October and November, 2010.

In the report, the EU mission among other things accuses the Ivorian constitutional council of violating Ivorian laws and abuse of power.

The head of the observer mission, Dr. Cristian Preda, who presented the report said the mission was in Ivory Coast at the invitation of the outgoing President Laurent Gbabo.

Preda explained that the first round of the elections held without a major incident with a record participation by Ivorians.

He said the situation however changed during the campaigns for the second round of voting with an upsurge of violence which came mainly from Gbagbo’s camp.

The report reads in part, “The Constitutional Council decision taken upon request by candidate Laurent Gbagbo is considered by the EUEOM as a violation of the Ivorian legislation and as an abuse of power, in particular because:

“* The Ivorian law does not allow the Council to partially annul the election and modify the final results; according to the law, it can only annul the election as a whole, and order a re-run.

“* The Council has not proceeded to a contradictory investigation upon the candidate’s (Gbagbo) request

“The Council decision lacks proportionality and represents a violation of the right to vote as it * annulled 664, 405 votes, representing 16 percent of the total number of votes, in order to proclaim the victory of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.”

Earlier, Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Amb. James Gbagbo expressed the regional body’s gratitude for the support it continued to enjoy from the EU.

“Let me use this opportunity to commend all the efforts and initiatives that the international community, including the EU, has been taking towards the resolution of the crisis,” he said

-Punchwp_posts