The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Aïchatou Mindaoudou, on Wednesday, 18 February 2015, presided over a meeting with electoral officers of political parties in Côte d'Ivoire at the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI).





The meeting which was led by the Spokesperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Victoire Alley, is a follow-up to recommendations made during a United Nations Discussion Platform on Elections organized on 18 and 19 December 2014 for political parties, women, youths and civil society, in collaboration with the IEC, the Ivorian Constitutional Council, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Programme for Social Cohesion, as well as international organisations such as the National Democratic Institute, (NDI), International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES), Search for Common Ground (SFCG) and United Nations agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women.





In her opening statement, Special Representative Mindaoudou expressed the hope that the main objective of the meeting which is to create a dynamic framework for consultation on the electoral process gets off to a good start by finding the right responses to fundamental questions on the electoral process.



The chief of UNOCI also highlighted the mission that participants must undertake to ensure that they become cogs in the wheel and essential links between the IEC and their respective parties. In addition she urged the electoral officers to become key actors in the creation and maintenance of a peaceful and consensual environment conducive to the conduct of free and democratic elections in Côte d'Ivoire.



« I urge you to play your role in a constructive way while always keeping in mind the general interest and the necessity to consolidate the achievements made so far to bring to a successful conclusion the important process in which we are engaged today, » said Mrs Mindaoudou.





During the discussion platform on elections held in December 2014, it was decided that three groups namely youths, women and electoral officers of political parties will be targeted. The Special Representative said that their discussions had a common point with regard to the challenges that have to be overcome and certain other recommendations. Mrs Mindaoudou recalled the UN Security Council recommendation (2014) in which the United Nations asked all the national parties "to facilitate the right conditions for the holding of free, regular, transparent and open presidential elections".



For her part, the IEC spokesperson, Victoire Alley presented a table of actions carried out by her organisations. She recalled that a lot of things had already been done with the nomination of the Commissioners which now stands at 17 instead of 31 and members of the office whose numbers have been reduced from 9 to six. They have already been trained and will be deployed in the electoral administration throughout the country. Local commissioners have also been nominated at the regional and departmental level. However, Ms Alley expressed regret at the fact that the political parties themselves had not yet designated their representatives in several localities and outside the country.



Mrs Christiane Pelchat of National Democratic Institute (NDI) explained that her NGO's mandate is to observe the forthcoming presidential election and that in this regards they will be deploying some 1,500 observers, 50% of which are women.



The director of the National Programme for Social Cohesion, Professor Mariatou Koné, who took part in the meeting, expressed the hope that the discussions would lead to peaceful elections and which could also help to strengthen social cohesion.



Like a number of representatives of political parties, Amédée Koffi, who is the electoral officer with the Renouveau pour la Paix et la Concorde, (RPC-Paix) party, welcomed « this initiative by UNOCI which has succeeded in bring everyone together to talk about the elections and by extension, peace ». However, Mr. Koffi said that peace has to start with security.



In his closing remarks, the Principal Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Simon Munzu said: « We must do all we can to ensure that the elections are held to everyone's satisfaction, while knowing that at the end there will be winners and losers. We also have to bear in mind that it is democracy that will be the winner in the end ».



At the end of the meeting, participants adopted a follow-up timetable of periodical encounters within the framework of Consultation Platform on Elections which will be established with the United Nations and the Independent Electoral Commission.