UN: Irregularities in Central African Republic Election

UN Calls For Tackling Alleged Irregularities In Central African Republic Election

New York, Feb 8 2011 4:10PM The United Nations is encouraging electoral authorities in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) to address alleged irregularities in last month’s presidential poll, which reportedly gave President Francois Bozize a second term but has left opposition candidates in an uproar over fraud.

CAR’s Independent Electoral Commission last week announced that Mr. Bozize took 66 per cent of the vote in the 23 January election, which opposition candidates said was riddled with irregularities and intimidation.

The UN has not had an election observer role, but continues to follow the process closely through its peacebuilding mission, known as BINUCA, which has coordinated support of the international community for the elections through the electoral steering committee.

Since the announcement of the provisional election results, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative in CAR, Sahle-Work Zewde, has been encouraging authorities “to address allegations of irregularities in a transparent manner,” UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky <"http://www.un.org/News/ossg/hilites/hilites_arch_view.asp?HighID=1816">told reporters in New York.

Ms. Zewde has also been encouraging candidates with grievances to follow the established legal procedures for lodging appeals, and for the Electoral Commission to communicate on the decisions regarding the polling stations.

The UN is also calling on the Constitutional Court to play its role fully and impartially as defined in the Constitution, added Mr. Nesirky.

Ahead of the polls, the Secretary-General had voiced the hope that the delayed elections will help lay the foundation for stability and development in a country that has seen significant ethnic conflict in its north, an overflow of violence from neighbouring Chad and Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, and attacks in the east from the brutal rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

ENDS