Blockage of electoral process – Women of RDR ask UN to impose sanctions

L'Expression
 – « The crystalisation of
the socio-political situation in  Côte d'Ivoire, fed by the fact that the
processing of appeals has been blocked by the issue of 429,000 persons
supposedly fraudulently included on the list by the Independent Electoral
Commission, prompted women of the republican party (RFR) to show their muscle
yesterday at their headquarters in Rue Lepic. During a meeting of district
delegates of the RFR, the amazons of Dr Alassane Dramane Ouattara denounced the
Front populaire ivoirien (Fpi) action, which according to them, endangers social
cohesion and the electoral process as stipulated in the Ouagadougou Political
Agreement (OPA). They demand that the UN imposes sanctions against those who
represent a blockage in the advancement of the electoral process.
[...] »

 

Meeting of technical
institutions in charge of elections and Prime Minister yesterday: The meeting
continues today.

Le Nouveau Réveil  – « Representatives
of the institutions in charge of  elections in Côte d'Ivoire, INS, SAGEM, IEC
held a meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday, in the presence of the special
 representative of the facilitator of the direct dialogue, Mr. Boureima Badini.
[...]After the meeting, the chairman of the IEC was ready to answer questions from
journalists. "We discussed the electoral process and all the mechanisms in place
for its implementation in order to ensure that it is done under the   best
conditions so that we can go on to organise elections, » he said, adding that
his departure or his continuation as head of the IEC was not part of the
discussions. .... With a smile on his face, Mr. Boureima Badini described the
meeting like this: "We came to have a discussion, for a meeting which had been
scheduled by the Prime Minister. But the meeting has been postponed. I cannot
give the reasons for the postponement. We believe we are in a dynamic process.
As you know there is the problem of the 429.000 persons. We tried as much as we
could to restart the machine.  He, then told journalists that for the moment no
meeting of the Permanent Consultative Framework is planned (CPC) »

 

Electoral list appeals -
"Mambé has to be removed for the process to advance"

Fraternité Matin  – « The
management of the Front populaire ivoirien, led by its Chairman, yesterday met
with Prime Minister Guillaume Soro. For Pascal Affi N'Guessan:
The
socio-political situation which has been affected by the crisis over the appeals
process was at the centre of the discussions with the head of government. The
meeting, which took place in the Prime Minister's office, lasted about an hour.
Speaking to the press, Pascal Affi N'Guessan said he had reiterated their demand
to Prime Minister Soro, that the chairman of the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) Robert Beugré Mambé must resign, following the issue of the
429,000 cases.

 

10-day extension for the
resolution of appeals : the FPI commissioners in the IEC attack Soro and Mambé

Le Nouveau Réveil  -
"Statement by members of the central commission on the
resumption of the appeals process resulting from the joint statement by the
Prime Minister and the IEC chairman".

On 2 February 2010, the
central commissioners of the IEC were surprised by a joint statement from the
Prime Minister and the IEC chairman read out on national television by the Prime
Minister's spokesman. The statement stated the resumption of appeals on the
provisional electoral list for ten days from 4 to 14 February 2010. [...] the
supervisor commissioners who signed the statement hereby notes that this joint
statement based on the prerogative of the IEC was discussed and signed outside
of any intervention from the IEC central commission, its office and its members.
They note with the great surprise that the failures which led to the crisis on
the 429 000 petitioners are going on despite the seriousness of this crisis and
its extremely negative consequences on the electoral process. The IEC chairman
continues to take the place of the organs of this institution and to ignore
their decision. [...] under these conditions the solitary signing of the joint
statement on the 2 February 2010 is part of a series of violation of
prerogatives and decisions of the central commission by the IEC chairman. [...]
They inform the national and international community of what follows while they
are waiting for the decision of the central commission as regard the resumption
of appeals, they will not take part in the operations linked to the content of
the joint statement broadcasted on 2 February 2010 and any activity on the
ground; they invite the commissioners in the IEC, throughout the country and
abroad not to implement the extension of the appeals process as demanded by the
joint statement of the Prime Minister and the IEC chairman on 2 February 2010.
[...]".

 

Exclusion of petitioners from
the electoral list by the FPI and magistrates/ the RDR warns: "reviving
exclusion can prolong instability in Côte d'Ivoire"

Le Nouveau Réveil -
"The electoral process for crisis resolution is today in the phase of the
resolution of appeals. The administrative phase, which is the appeals made to
the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), as in the referral to the legal
authorities after the IEC's decision, has just been extended to 14 February
2010.

 

Unfortunately, what do we see
during these courts sessions?

The FPI leaders draw lists of
persons who are immigrants according to them and ask the judges to remove them
from the provisional electoral list.

Who are the persons usually
involved in these requests?

When we look at the lists
submitted for the removal of names, we note that almost all the persons accused
of fraud to obtain Ivorian nationality and whose crossing out is requested have
northern or Malinké names. With such a behaviour, the FPI leaders gives the
impression of being involved in political exclusion of part of the Ivorian
population from the North of Côte d'Ivoire. Several examples of requests for
removal of names by FPI's activists confirm our analysis. These are the
following cases:

-Yopougon court, 14.000
persons, -Abidjan court, 15000 persons

-Divo court, over 4 000
persons, daloa court, 500 persons

-Dabou court, over 200
persons, Aboisso region, over 200 persons Ayenouan region, over 255 persons-
Kokomian (Koun-fao), over 200 persons, Lakota, over 3000 persons, Abengourou
region, over 800 persons, -Katiola region, over 200 persons. [...]

Is such attitude supposed to
appease tension?

We believe that exclusion has
done lot of damage within the Ivorian population and reviving it can extend
instability in Côte d'Ivoire and the consequences will be harmful to Ivoirians
and even the sub-region."

 

Divo- the tow paralysed by the
opposition, several wounded

Fraternité Matin-
« Scheduled for
Wednesday, 3 February, deliberations on the removal of names from the
provisional electoral list has been postponed to Thursday, 4 February, according
to a notice by the president of Divo tribunal Mr. Tié Bi Foua Gaston. ....This
was enough to anger demonstrators.
Roads barricaded, shops
closed, tyres burnt, they marched and chanted: « We are Ivorians » taxis were
forced to park, the smell of teargas......Divo looked today like a dead city,
paralysed. The defence and security forces used teargas to disperse the
demonstrators who attempted to attack the town hall and the general council.  (...).
Meanwhile life
is slowly returning to normal on Djiboua, despite the fact that the
demonstrators set fire to the offices of the Water and Forestry Directorate
which was completely engulfed in smoke...