United Nations Radio

Côte d'Ivoire

SUGG INTRO: The situation in Cote d'Ivoire is stable ahead of much-awaited presidential elections now scheduled for the 29th of November. The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi is optimistic that the elections, which have been postponed several times in the last 4 years, will be held as scheduled. But as he explains to UN Radio's Diane Bailey, he knows the remaining challenges are serious ones.

Young-Jin Choi

CHOI: There are too many positive elements for us to let this delay have us discouraged. Those positive elements are mobile court hearings completed with great success. Then we have the identification operation, which was completed 30th June 2009 with more than 6.5 million people identified without a single incident. It's a huge success. Then everybody agreed on the end of voter registration. This is another very positive and encouraging progress. On the provisional list, even though there is delay, the data processing is complete now, all you have to do is technical corrections of the list. The election is just around the corner. You can even feel it.

DIANE: What are some of the things that could go wrong, what are some of the elements that still need to be dealt with in order for these elections to go off on the 29th?

CHOI: Currently, the general atmosphere in Abidjan is very positive and optimistic, including very strong electoral momentum. It'll be difficult to break it, so things are moving toward the election date. Having said that, we have remaining challenges, which can be very serious. The first one is technical delays - bureaucratic, administration, management sort of things, because we are combining in Ivory Coast a Western standard with African traditional methods, so delay's in a way inevitable. But, on the other hand, the positive aspect is this will ensure the transparency - the process will be very transparent and credible. That is first challenge. Second challenge is political nature. There will be political settlement of disputes on the provisional list. And it may take time.

DIANE: When you talk about political disputes are you talking about questioning the voters' list?

CHOI: Exactly, there are currently three major political parties with a strong candidate. They will review the list and try to eliminate those who according to them should not be on the list. I hope we can frame the appeals process within certain time limits, four weeks, for example, then we can have the definitive electoral list, which will be a sure sign the election will take place in several weeks.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi.

Producer: Diane Bailey
Duration: 2'26"