Democracy for Africa: March 2010

Friday, March 5, 2010

Ivory Coast Elections Could be Delayed Again

Anne Look | Dakar

Photo: VOA

Controversy over the voter list in Ivory Coast is threatening to once again push back long-delayed presidential elections. Election-related protests erupted around Ivory Coast this past week.

Ivorian investigators have confirmed evidence of "fraud" in the voter list for the country's upcoming presidential elections.

President Laurent Gbagbo accused the Independent Electoral Commission in January of approving a voter list that contained the names of almost a half million foreigners. The accusations were followed by calls for electoral commission head, Robert Mambé, to resign.

Announcing the investigators' findings Friday, spokesman Mohamed Diakité said the consequences of this alleged fraud were "extremely serious."

He says despite opposition from electoral commission members, its central committee and President Gbagbo, electoral commission head Robert Mambé gave the unauthorized names to the technicians who then added them to most of the lists. He says this finding brings the legitimacy of the electoral list into question.

Mambé, an opposition member, said he does not plan to resign and the voter list in question should never have been released.

He says he will continue to fight to finish what he knew from the beginning would be a difficult mission. He says he did not commit fraud nor did he instruct others to commit fraud.

The vote is an attempt to find a lasting political solution to nearly a decade of internal conflict in the once stable West African nation, but voter registration issues have prompted Ivory Coast to push back the election several times since President Laurent Gbagbo's mandate ran out in 2005.

Questions of nationality were at the heart of the civil war in 2002 and remain sensitive in Ivory Coast, which has a large immigrant population. Observers say recent political stalemate demonstrates just how far the country is from resolving the questions of "Who is Ivorian?" and "Who can vote?"

Last week, mounting frustration erupted into violent protests outside courthouses around the country, first in Katiola and Divo, where one police officer was killed, and finally in Man, near the Liberian border, on Friday. Thousands of people there stormed the courthouse, accusing the magistrate of trying to strike them from the voter list.

The former rebel faction in the North, the New Forces, had released a statement earlier denouncing what they called attempts to remove northerners from the provisional voter rolls, by questioning their nationality without proof. They cautioned against the "unpredictable consequences these attempts to strip people of their nationality could provoke."

Justice Minister Mamadou Koné has not only condemned the outbreaks of violence, but also called for local magistrates to follow proper legal protocol when seeking to remove people from the voter rolls. State security forces prevented him from reading his statement on national television.

Opposition members have accused Mr. Gbagbo's party of pressuring courts to remove people from the voter list and of stalling elections to remain in power. The opposition continues to call for the poll to happen in March, as planned.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast has called for calm and continues to urge the country to organize elections as soon as possible.

The deadline for the publication of the definitive voter list has been pushed back to February 14, and observers say recent political disputes make holding an election in March near impossible.

VOA

Togo Opposition, Ruling Party Both Declare Victory in Presidential Vote

Opposition candidate Fabre says Thursday's vote was full of irregularities

Scott Stearns | Abuja05 March 2010

A Togolese policeman walks by a poster supporting opposition presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre in Lome, Togo on the final day of campaigning, Tuesday, March 2, 2010.

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Togolese policeman walks by a poster supporting opposition presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre in Lome, Togo - File Photo

Togo Voting Calm, Despite Fears of Violence

Togo's main opposition candidate and its ruling-party are both declaring victory in Thursday's presidential election as vote counting continues.

Opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre says Thursday's vote was full of irregularities, but he remains confident of victory.

Fabre told reporters in Lome late Friday that according to results complied by his Union of Forces for Change party, they are averaging between 75 and 80 percent of the vote, a total that he says would have been higher without anomalies that he says included stuffing ballot boxes.

Government spokesman Pascal Bodjona disputes that claim. He told French radio that the ruling Rally for the Togolese People party and President Faure Gnassingbe have won what he called a resounding victory. A ruling-party statement called on opposition leaders to regroup so as to preserve the general calm that prevailed during this vote.

The United Nations says more than 400 people were killed in post-election violence in 2005 that also sent thousands of Togolese refugees into Ghana and Benin.

President Gnassingbe is running for re-election after winning that 2005 vote following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo for more than 38 years.

Before Thursday's vote, Fabre said he had no confidence in the fairness of the ballot and suspected that President Gnassingbe would manipulate the electoral commission to steal the vote.

The president said an unprecedented deployment of Togolese and regional security forces would help guarantee a fair ballot. Casing his vote, he said it was up to voters to decide if he would be re-elected.

Final results are expected Saturday or Sunday.

VOA NEWS

Togo Voting Calm, Despite Fears of Violence

Anne Look | Dakar05 March 2010

Photo: AP

A Togolese man casts his vote for president as international and national poll observers inspect a polling station in Lome, Togo, 04 Mar 2010

Togo Opposition, Ruling Party Both Declare Victory in Presidential Vote

Voting was peaceful in Togo's presidential poll Thursday, despite fears of violence and fraud.

Election officials in Togo counted ballots aloud after polls closed Thursday in the country's presidential election.

The poll was widely seen as a test of the democratic process in the West African country. Its last presidential election in 2005 was marked by violence and accusations of vote tampering.

But voters leaving the polls Thursday in the capital city, Lome, were for the most part pleased with the calm in which people cast their ballots.

A voter in Lome says the voting happened in an orderly fashion. He says the only problem he noticed were the people who could not find their names on the voter lists and were forced to go from center to center to find where they should vote. He says he is concerned about transparency in the counting of the votes, but he hopes this election will bring about change in Togo.

Security forces were on hand, but there were no reports of violence.

Missions from the European Union and the 15-member Economic Community of West African States were on the ground to help ensure that Thursday's vote went smoothly.

An ECOWAS observer says he is pleased with the transparency and calm with which the voting took place. He says they did not note any incidents in the capital city. He says they also observed the counting of votes in several polling places.

Heads of polling places around the capital also pointed to the peace and transparency with which the casting and counting of votes had taken place.

At the polls, current president, Faure Gnassingbe, faced six opposition candidates in his run for a second term.

He is the son of late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the country for 38 years, and his election in 2005 was a highly-contested vote that resulted in violence that left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands.

The results of the presidential race are expected to be announced Sunday.

VOA

Togo opposition claims 'irregularities' in poll

President Faure Gnassingbe is running for a second term

The main opposition party in Togo has claimed widespread irregularities in the country's presidential election.

People in Togo voted on Thursday to chose a new head of state - five years after hundreds died following the last, disputed election.

President Faure Gnassingbe is running for a second term, and his main challenger is Jean Pierre Fabre of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC).

All parties have been stressing the need for a peaceful poll.

The UFC has pointed to several problems with the voting that it says could lead to fraud.

The ballot papers did not have serial numbers, only the stubs did, says the BBC's Caspar Leighton in Lome.

The numberless ballot papers can be used to stuff ballot boxes from elsewhere, the UFC says.

"The electoral code has not been respected. Nothing has been done today to ensure the transparency of this vote," the UFC head of communications Eric Dupuy told the BBC.

More than 500 observers from the African Union, the West African group Ecowas and the European Union are monitoring the vote.

An election observer in Lome told the BBC the process so far was "slow but peaceful".

Correspondents say President Gnassingbe is hoping to be re-elected in circumstances that will win the approval that was so lacking at the last election.

'No chances'

The 2005 vote happened soon after the military had installed him in power on the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema.

The main opposition party, the UFC, believes it won the last election.

Hundreds died in ensuing protests. Campaigning this time around was peaceful and at times strayed into good-natured rivalry.

But the authorities took no chances and mixed the message of harmony with the presence of a 6,000-strong election security force.

The structures in place for this election pointed to a desire to be seen to be doing the right thing.

For the first time there was an independent electoral commission.

The government website was being more than just a government mouthpiece and talked in fair terms about the opposition campaigns.

The electoral commissioner said election results should be ready after 72 hours. But there is a lack of clarity about how long the counting will actually take, our correspondent says.

Source: BBC

Togo hopes for more peaceful poll

The opposition expects to do well in the capital Lome


	Email			Print
	Have Your Say ( 0 )

Polls have opened in the presidential election in the west African state of Togo.

President Faure Gnassingbe is running for a second term, and his main challenger is Jean Pierre Fabre of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC).

The vote is being closely watched by the international community amid hopes of avoiding repetition of the violence that marred the last election.

All parties have been stressing the need for a peaceful poll.

President Gnassingbe is hoping to be re-elected in circumstances that will win the approval that was so lacking at the last election.

The 2005 vote happened soon after the military had installed him in power on the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema.

The main opposition party, the UFC, believes it won the last election.

Hundreds died in ensuing protests. Campaigning this time around has been peaceful and has at times strayed into good-natured rivalry.

But the authorities are taking no chances and are mixing the message of harmony with the presence of a 6,000-strong election security force.

Election observers from the European Union, the African Union and the west African regional grouping Ecowas are on hand, along with the Francophone organisation.

The structures in place for this election point to a desire to be seen to be doing the right thing.

For the first time there is an independent electoral commission.

The government website is being more than just a government mouthpiece and talks in fair terms about the opposition campaigns.

But there have been claims that the ruling party of President Gnassingbe has far more resources behind its campaign than the opposition and that the vote will not be fair.

The run-up to the election saw some opposition leaders suspend participation in the campaign because they were unhappy with the organisation of the election.

Source: BBC

Democracy for Africa

Demo Now