Calls for help from I Coast
2005-07-28 10:29
p>Abidjan - Opposition leaders in Ivory Coast said on Wednesday they were appealing to President Thabo Mbeki over planned rules for the upcoming presidential election.
Their appeal to Mbeki, the African Union's mediator for Ivory Coast, arises from decrees from President Laurent Gbahgo giving responsibility for determining eligibility to vote, establishing lists and issuing electors' cards to the existing National Institute of Statistics instead of the Independent Electoral Commission due to be set up by the end of the month.
The opposition says that the role attributed to the commission, that of responsibility for the electoral process, with the institute of statistics telling it what it has done, strips the commission of any real effectiveness.
Originally under the agreement between government and opposition the CEI was given a larger role as the only body responsible for the electoral process with the institute confined to an advisory role.
A presidential election is due to take place on October 31 in Ivory Coast, effectively cut in two since September 2002 by a civil war.