Abidjan, 1er September 2008... The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi on Monday met with the President of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Robert Beugré Mambé at the headquarters of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI).

During the meeting, Mr. Choi encouraged Mr. Mambé to pursue his initiatives for the launch of the identification process. He also reiterated UNOCI's continued multiple support to allow the IEC to carry out its mandate to organise elections under the best possible conditions as scheduled.

After the meeting, Mr. Mambé told journalists that he had come to take stock of the evolution of the electoral process with the head of UNOCI and brief him on the immediate actions programmed to successfully complete the process. He also announced the next visit on the ground by the IEC. "This field visit will essentially be to examine the work that has been carried out in the coordination centres, which are going to receive data from collections centres for the enlisting of voters", explained Mr. Mambé. He added that the operation would be carried out with the support of UNOCI and its Electoral Assistance Division in the presence of all the Ivorian actors and the technical operators of the process.

In addition, the head of the IEC also dismissed any doubts about the date of 30 November 2008 for the holding of presidential elections not being respected. "There is nothing blocking identification and the date of 30 November 2008 is legally and technically possible". He said that this was based on technical issues such as the duration of enrolment which has to be done within a reasonable period of time. With regard to the legal aspects, Mr. Mambé revealed that he had sent a proposal to the Government for the necessary amendments. He recalled that these amendments concerned several texts including the content of the final version of the legal plan and implementation mechanism for voters' registration.