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Zuma sees discrepancies in Ivory Coast vote

Zuma sees discrepancies in Ivory Coast vote
By: Reuters-TZG
Posted: Monday, January 24, 2011 12:03 am

SOUTH African president, Jacob Zuma, said on Friday there were uncertainties over the Ivory Coast election, although global powers believe the vote was clearly won by a rival to President Laurent Gbagbo.

The statement from Zuma, the leader of Africa's biggest economy, is likely to give impetus to President Gbagbo who says there should be a recount and, or, negotiations between him and his rival Alassane Ouattara, who is contesting a November 28 election overturned by the country's legal body, which alleged fraud.

"We believe that there also some discrepancies in the manner in which the election ... has come to the final pronouncement of the vote," President Zuma said at a news conference after holding talks with Uganda President Yoweri Museveni.

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The African Union's mediator for Ivory Coast planned talks with the leaders of Angola and South Africa this week, over the situation in Ivory Coast.

The United States, European Union, especially former coloniser France, and United Nations have stated that Ouattara won the November 28 vote.

Ouattara was proclaimed winner by the electoral commission but the Constitutional Council cancelled hundreds of thousands of votes, alleging electoral fraud.

Military chiefs of West African regional bloc ECOWAS met in Mali on Tuesday to discuss the planning of an ouster of President Gbagbo.

President Zuma did not throw his support behind a proposal floated by diplomats for President Gbagbo to go into exile.

"If we believe that somebody has lost the election, why do we call for somebody to leave the country?" President Zuma said, without making any critical comments of President Gbagbo.

The South African president said he felt an African Union meeting next week in Ethiopia will be able to "deal with the matter".

ZImbabwe also believes that the African Union should be the final determiner of how the political process in Ivory Coast will unfold in the next few weeks and months.

President Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba earlier this month said Zimbabwe will take the cue from the AU over the situation in Ivory Coast.

Labels: IVORY COAST, JACOB ZUMA

posted by MrK @ 12:29 PM