S/PV.6437 Security Council

On behalf of the Security Council, I extend an invitation under rule 39 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Choi Young-Jin, Special Representative of the Secretary- General and head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. It is so decided. Special Representative Choi is joining today’s meeting via video teleconference from Abuja. Participants have before them document S/2010/600, containing the twenty-sixth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. I now give the floor to Mr. Choi. Mr. Choi: For the first time in its history, Côte d’Ivoire had a second round of presidential elections on 28 November. Despite the tense environment that preceded it and some incidents, which were sometimes violent, in the West and the North of the country, the second round was generally conducted in a democratic manner. The participation rate was actually quite high, attaining over 81 per cent. It was also quite encouraging to note that, all along the five observation routes established by the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), representatives of both candidates were present in all the polling stations. Based on these findings and analysis, on 29 November I implicitly certified the conduct of the election through a press conference in Abidjan. Following that phase, the moment has come for us to safeguard the result. At this critical juncture, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) began to show signs of internal divisions. The IEC internal divisions were further exacerbated when the Ivorian security authorities reinforced their protection at the IEC headquarters beginning on the morning of 30 November. In the end, this led the IEC President, Mr. Youssouf Bakayoko, to proclaim the provisional result of the second round in the afternoon of 2 December at the Golf Hotel. According to the IEC, the participation rate in the second round was over 81 per cent, with candidate Alassane Ouattara garnering 54.1 per cent of the votes and candidate Laurent Gbagbo garnering 45.9 per cent. The Constitutional Council immediately reacted to the announcement made by the IEC. In the evening of 2 December, the President of the Constitutional Council, Mr. Paul Yao N’Dre, declared that the IEC’s proclamation was null and void, as the IEC had passed the legal limit of three days for pronouncing itself on the provisional results. Then, on 3 December, the President of the Constitutional Council proclaimed the final results, with the cancellation of voting in nine northern departments. According to this proclamation, candidate Laurent Gbagbo garnered 51.45 per cent of the vote and candidate Alassane Ouattara 48.55 per cent, with an overall participation rate of 71 per cent. Meanwhile, I, as a certifier of the Ivorian elections, had completed the analysis and evaluation of 20,000 tally sheets provided to me by the Ivorian authorities for the purposes of certification. All the work was completed by 2 December. I must stress that the conduct of my certification was done without regard to the methods used and results proclaimed by either the IEC or the Constitutional Council. The result I obtained through my certification methods was very clear. There was only one winner, by a clear margin. Even if all the complaints submitted by President Gbagbo’s camp to the Constitutional Council were taken into account in terms of the numbers of tally sheets, and consequently of votes, the outcome of the second round would not change, with Mr. Alassane Ouattara being the winner of the presidential election. As such, I certified the results of the second round of the presidential election on 3 December. The United Nations did not seek this responsibility. It was requested to play the certification role by Ivorian leaders themselves by virtue of the 2005 Pretoria Agreement. It is a solemn responsibility that the United Nations has towards all the Ivorian people, who deserve peace, stability and prosperity. Considering the distance that Côte d’Ivoire has travelled, ignoring the will of the people at this stage would be a let-down of the people of Côte d’Ivoire and a waste of significant resources invested over the past eight years by the international community.

I would note that the participation of the representative of Côte d’Ivoire in this meeting without objection is not intended to be viewed and should not be understood as an acknowledgment of the legitimacy of his Government. There are no further speakers on my list. In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.