UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday called on all parties to refrain from interfering with vote counting in Ivory Coast's presidential election.
Results of the country's first presidential election since independence in 1960 were being held up by political feuding, observers said. Ban issued issued his plea following reports that a supporter of President Laurent Gbagbo tore up the first announcements of partial results Tuesday, and journalists were barred from entering the Independent Election Commission's office Wednesday.
Supporters of former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, who faced Gbagbo in Sunday's runoff, contend the president is delaying the results because he lost. Gbagbo's backer alleged voter fraud by his challenger's campaign.
"The secretary-general urges the Independent Electoral Commission to announce the provisional results of the second round of the presidential election without delay, today [Wednesday] ...," a Ban spokesman said in a statement.
Y.J. Choi, the U.N. leader's spokesman, noted preliminary findings by international observer missions found the vote was conducted in an overall satisfactory and credible manner, despite some instances of violence.
"The secretary-general emphasizes that any disruption in the electoral process would not be in the interest of the people of [Ivory Coast] or the future stability of the country," the spokesman said in the statement.
The West African country, the world's largest cocoa exporter, was split by civil war in 2002 into a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north. More than 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers are in the country in support of the reunification efforts.
Ban said the high voter turnout during the peaceful first round of voting Oct. 31 showed the people's readiness to accept the outcome of the runoff and urged the media not to inflame tensions.
