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| Africa Subsaharan |
| AU suspends Ivory Coast over vote |
| 2010-12-11 |
| [Iran Press TV] The African Union has decided to suspend the membership of Ivory Coast over a disputed presidential election in the West African nation. The decision was made on Thursday following President Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to heed calls to respect the election results. The AU said the suspension will remain until the democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara takes power. Last Thursday, Ivory Coast's electoral commission announced that opposition candidate Ouattara had won the nation's long-awaited presidential election. Electoral commission head Youssouf Bakayoko said Ouattara won 54 percent of the vote, BBC reported. But the Constitutional Council immediately contested the declaration, saying the announcement had been made a day after Wednesday's deadline. A day later, the council overruled earlier provisional poll results and declared incumbent Laurent Gbagbo the winner of the country's presidential run-off. Gbagbo was sworn in on Saturday in a ceremony broadcast live on state television. His proclaimed election victory was rejected by La Belle France, the United States, the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, the AU and the West African bloc, ECOWAS. Gbagbo, who has presided over Ivory Coast for a decade, has ignored calls from countries both on the African continent and worldwide to concede victory to Ouattara. |
| Posted by:Fred |