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afrol.com, 10 October - International and internal condemnations grow after the Ivorian Supreme Court on Friday barred 15 of the 19 presidential candidates from standing in October 22 elections. The state of emergency in Côte d'Ivoire, due to expire yesterday, has been extended until Friday. In a ruling on Friday, the top candidate of the principal opposition party, the Republican Rally (RDR), Alassane Ouattara, was found ineligible under the Constitution based on accusations of his "doubtful origin". It is claimed that Outtara has has a Burkinabe citizenship, which he himself denies and which was not proven. The president and head of by the military junta, General Robert Guei, was cleared. The leaders of the main, barred oppositional parties yesterday joined forces and decided to fight the ruling in favour of the country's military government. The excluded candidates "represent 90 percent of the electorate and 90 percent of the parliament," Ouattara stated on behalf of the barred candidates. "I think we have the means to stop this." He continued by saying that "General Guei is a dictator and he wants to legalize dictatorship through elections, but the decision is imposed by Guei and is neither legal nor democratic," according to the Washington Post. The international condemnations have been widespread. The United States earlier had made a statement saying that "the people of Cote d'Ivoire deserve the right to freely vote for the candidates of their choice in an inclusive, free, fair, and transparent electoral process." The US has repeated its protests after the court ruling. Protests also came from France and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which had tried to mediate in the conflict. France described the ruling as "undemocratic". A spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement that Annan (himself from neighbouring Ghana) strongly deplored these restrictions on the free choice of the voters of Côte d'Ivoire. The Secretary-General further recalled that the United Nations has repeatedly demanded that the authorities in Côte d'Ivoire work on a political transition leading to a return to constitutional legality, based on democratic elections for the President and legislature that are open and transparent. Against the opposition and international protests against the possible exclusion of Ouattara, Guei several times has called on the international community to stop asking Côte d'Ivoire to bend the law in favour of an individual. After the Supreme Court ruling, Guei claimed to be disappointed over the exclusion of his main opponents. In Paris, Ivorian protesters yesterday attacked their embassy, outraged about the court ruling. The demonstrators broke into and damaged the embassy, according to the BBC. Government spokesman Commander Henri Sama told national radio that their actions showed the real ambition of Mr Ouattara's Rally of Republicans party was "to destroy Ivory Coast". The incident was used legitimating the extension of the state of emergency, said BBC. However, the curfew was lifted. In Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire, the situation still is relatively calm. Several reports, however, confirm that the military and police are abusing the emergency state. Mass arrests and several deaths are reported, and police presence is particularly heavy in townships known to be sympathetic to the opposition.
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