U.N., EU urge release of Ivory Coast election results

From Eric Agnero, For CNN

December 2, 2010 -- Updated 0534 GMT (1334 HKT)

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• UN and European Union officials are calling for the release of election results
• The release of results has been delayed twice
• Late Tuesday, two election officials stopped release of results
• They said results were not complete and the announcement was illegal
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Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warning against interference with the Ivory Coast electoral commission after a midnight deadline passed without the announcement of results.


In a statement Wednesday Ban said he regretted the delay but stressed "the need for the Independent Electoral Commission to complete its work and announce the provisional results," adding that the commission should receive more time "if required."


Earlier, the European Union representative, Catherine Ashton, called on the commission to publish the results by Wednesday evening as scheduled, calling it "essential to fully complete the process," according to a statement.


Once the electoral commission proclaims the final results, the constitutional council would then validate them.


The release of the results had already been delayed twice.


Late Tuesday two electoral commission members from President Laurent Gbagbo's party physically stopped the announcement of partial election results, arguing that they were not complete and the announcement was illegal.


Early results from a small portion of ballots in the presidential runoff gave former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara a lead over incumbent Gbagbo, the country's electoral commission reported Monday.


The results showed Ouattara leading Gbagbo by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent. But the count was limited to a portion of votes cast overseas, about 15,000 of the west African nation's 5.7 million registered voters.


In the initial October 31 election Gbagbo finished ahead of Ouattara, with 38 percent of the vote compared to the challenger's 32 percent.


But in a press conference Monday, Gbagbo's campaign denounced a "non-transparent vote" in the country's north, which campaign spokesman Affi Nguessan said was "controlled by a rebellion still in arms and favorable to Alassane Ouattara." Nguessan said the campaign's lawyer could ask the electoral commission to invalidate the votes in some parts of the north.
Meanwhile, Ouattara's camp alleged that many of his supporters were intimidated and barred from voting in his opponent's stronghold.


But both candidates have vowed to accept the results of the election in front of Blaise Compaore, president of neighboring Burkina Faso and the facilitator of the country's peace process. Compaore came to Abidjan on Saturday in an effort to ease tensions before the runoff.


Sunday's vote was cast amid scattered violence in which three people died, the United Nations said. But U.N. officials said the runoff was "globally democratic, despite violent incidents reported in the West and the North."


Ahead of the runoff, the U.N. Security Council authorized a temporary redeployment of troops and helicopters from its mission in neighboring Liberia in order to beef up security.

The Security Council said the situation in Ivory Coast "continues to pose a threat to international peace and security in the region."

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