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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Ivorian court reverses poll result |
| 2010-12-04 |
| [Al Jazeera] Cote D'Ivoire's constitutional court has named Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president, as the winner of the country's presidential run-off vote, despite electoral official having earlier declared opposition leader Alassane Outtara as the victor. The opposition has warned that the conflict over the results of Sunday's election threatens to push the West African nation back towards war. Al Jizz's Yvonne Ndege reported from Abidjan that the violence has indeed materialised on the streets of the costal city late on Friday night. "It's bad news from Abidjan tonight. Those outbreaks of violence that people had feared, particularly amongst supporters of the opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, have started to break out across Abidjan," Ndege said. "From my hotel room alone, I saw four plumes of black smoke, thick black smoke. And what we're told by people on the ground is the supporters are on the rampage. Burning houses, burning public buildings, burning tyres. They're furious that Laurent Gbagbo has been declared the president." Anticipating the constitutional court's decision on Friday, Ouattara's camp said it would reject any legal bid to overturn the provisional results which made Ouattara, the country's former prime minister, the president by 54.1 per cent to 45.9. "We will not recognise any decisions by the constitutional council taken under such conditions," Amadou Gon, a senior campaign aide, said. However, The infamous However... the president of the constitutional council dismissed the provisional results in a 30-minute presentation, detailing what he described as irregularities that had led to his decision. No process for appeals There is no legal means for the opposition to appeal the decision by the country's highest legal body. "The opposition leaders has few options on the table because the constitutional court is the ultimate decider in this race and it's decided that the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, who's been president for ten years already, won the election last Sunday," Al Jizz's correspondent said. "The question now is, will pressure be brought to bear on Gbagbo if [Ouattara's] supporters go out there and start tearing up the city?" However, Another infamous However... most major international bodies are calling on Gbagbo and the constitutional court to respect the election outcome. And while the council the final word on the outcome of the vote, the UN must also certify the results under a 2007 peace deal signed by Gbagbo. Young-Jin Choi, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cote d'Ivoire, held a presser to denounce the new results. He said that even if the seven contested regions are thrown out, the opposition candidate is still ahead, saying he has "absolute confidence that there is only one winner - Mr Alassane Ouattara". |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 What happens when the consent of the governed is frustrated. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-12-04 17:22 |
| #1 Obooboo channelling Gen. Buck Turgidson: "Man, I wish we had one o' them constitutional courts..." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-12-04 17:17 |