The Ivorian opposition has rejected the electoral timetable for the October 2020 presidential election set by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), citing a lack of consensus.
“The Ivorian opposition political parties, signatories to this declaration, reject the calendar announced by the chairman of CEI which is not consensual,” the statement initialled by the leaders of the vairous parties said.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) quoted the opposition parties as describing the attitude of the government as cavalier and contemptuous since the start of talks on the presidential election of October 31, 2020.
The Ivorian opposition leaders who consider the UNDP and the international community as “facilitators of the last meeting of May 6, 2020, on the risks posed to the electoral process by the propensity of the government to go by force,” called on them to “create a consensus and a climate of confidence among the main actors in the electoral process.”
They also called for “the urgent convening of a consensus meeting between the main actors of the electoral process under the facilitation of UNDP.”
Despite this momentum, the opposition invited its supporters to mobilise for the success of the mobile court hearings, which are underway and aim to facilitate the registration of new adults on the electoral list by August 1, 2020.
After the Chairman of the Electoral Commission presented the adjusted timetable of electoral activities taking into account the Covid-19 crisis, talks were held with the Ivorian political class.
The discussions focused on the modalities for the execution of the electoral exercise, the state of preparations and the modus operandi for the revision of the voters’ list.
The political parties thanked UNDP and the United Nations for their electoral assistance through exchange frameworks.
During the exchanges, the political parties, particularly the opposition noted that they objected to the current electoral body because it is “subservient to the government, non-consensual and incapable of guaranteeing transparent and credible elections.”
The opposition parties also want the 10,500 polling stations to be enrolment centres, and the duration of enrolment to be at least 30 days instead of 15 as provided for in the timetable proposed by the CEI.
They called for a “consensus” on the documents to be used for enrolment, including birth certificates, citizenship certificates and national identity cards, while inviting the United Nations system to continue its efforts to contribute to building “consensus and confidence among stakeholders” in the presidential election scheduled for 31 October 2020.
On Wednesday, the Council of Ministers adopted the period for the revision of the electoral list set from June 10 to 24, 2020.
AP/ls/lb/as/APA