afrol News, 7 March - Ivorian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny yesterday declared the Independent Electoral Commission operational and asked the members to produce an electoral roll for presidential and parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for October. For the first time in years, there is credible progress in the peace and reconciliation process of Côte d'Ivoire.

All parties to the Ivorian conflict had been engaged in what the UN called "groundbreaking talks" during the two last weeks - for the first time on the territory of Côte d'Ivoire since 2002. The talks - which included the Prime Minister, President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel leader Guillaume Soro and the two main opposition leaders Henri Konan Bédie and Alassane Ouattara - ended the long impasse over how to organise the upcoming elections.

During the meetings, the participants agreed on the make-up of the electoral commission, saying the post of a fourth vice-president for the commission could be created "to achieve a balanced representation." The representations in the commission that is to oversee the upcoming Ivorian polls has been seen as a key guarantor to free and fair elections and several opposition parties had protested the failure to grant them a high ranking representation in the commission.

The UN peacekeeping operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) oversaw the talks, which during last week led to a final agreement on the commission. Yesterday, Prime Minister Banny therefore was finally able to inaugurate the Independent Electoral Commission in Abidjan and to declare it "operational".

Preparations for the presidential and parliamentary elections in October can therefore go on. One of the major tasks of the commission will be to produce an electoral roll for the upcoming polls in both the government-held southern part of the country and the northern territories still occupied by the rebels.

The Commission had been due to start work on 17 February but was delayed because of a dispute over its composition and specifically because of disagreements over the validity of last October's elections of the central bureau.

The move towards elections in Côte d'Ivoire today was welcomed by the UN, which has tried to broker a peace in the country for almost four years. "All members of society should build on the political gains achieved in Côte d'Ivoire and work towards polls planned for later this year," Antonio Monteiro, the UN's High Representative for Elections in the country said in New York today.

As defined by the Pretoria peace agreement, the Independent Electoral Commission is a provisional institution specially established to assure the democratic nature and sound management of the electoral process and is designed to end the Ivorian crisis.

Côte d'Ivoire was divided into a government-ruled south and rebel-held north after the failure of an attempted coup against President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002 triggered a civil war.

Troops from the UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and the UN-authorised French Licorne forces have been guarding the so-called Zone of Confidence separating the two areas in this nation, once the world's top cocoa producer. More than 7,500 uniformed UN personnel are present in the country as part of UNOCI's mission.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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