Ivory Coast announces new electoral commission

Ivory Coast announced the formation of a new electoral commission on Friday, a key step towards resolving a political crisis in the top cocoa producer that provoked days of violent street demonstrations.

The new commission told a news conference its president was Youssouf Bakayoko, an opposition PDCI party member.

The members of the commission were chosen in a deal cut between Ivory Coast’s political parties. They then elected Bakayoko and his management team to run it.

“The result will be to organise elections that are just, transparent and have results acceptable to everyone,” Bakayoko, a former foreign affairs minister, said in a brief statement after his election.

The opposition had vowed to continue protests against President Laurent Gbagbo until he reinstated the electoral commission he dissolved, along with the government, this month.

Gbagbo disbanded them on February 12, after accusing former electoral commission chief Robert Mambe, also a PDCI member, of illegally adding names to the voter register in a boost the opposition. Mambe has denied trying to add the names.

That decision has delayed a poll that was already years overdue when it was scheduled for March, sparking a public outcry that led to bloody street protests.

“Our institution had certain difficulties last time,” Bakayoko said. “We are going to try to surmount these difficulties so that the hopes placed in us can be realised.”

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, a former rebel during the 2002-3 civil war, announced a new government on Tuesday night, with places for both opposition parties, after a compromise mediated by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.

The number of ministries has been cut to 27 from 32, with the opposition getting a similar proportion to before.

Only 16 of the ministers were named, most of them retaking their old jobs, as the opposition did not put forward names.

OPPOSITION BACK IN?

The main opposition coalition had said it would only join the newly formed government once the electoral commission was re-established, so the announcement paves the way for them to rejoin.

However, getting the electoral commission back on track is regarded as far more important than the government, which has in any case been transitional since its mandate expired in 2005.

Elections are seen as the only way of restoring legitimacy to the government and ending the crisis in Ivory Coast, which has persisted since the war split it in two.

Public anger is raging after years of delays. The military has opened fire on protesters in the past few days, killing some. Cocoa output, however, has been largely unaffected.

Once the commission is in place, it still has to finish the laborious job of drawing up a final voter list, first by dealing with all the contested names on the provisional list.

Some 6 million voters registered for the poll, but around a million were contested on grounds of nationality, a divisive issue that started the civil war in the first place.

Frequent setbacks to the country’s fragile peace process have left many Ivorians cynical about politics and their leaders.

“If it means peace can come back to our country then I guess that’s good,” said fruitseller Odette Brou, 30, on hearing of the new commission. “We’re really tired of all this.”

Reuters.