Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Russia and the Cote d'Ivoire Elections

BBC reports that Russia is blocking a Security Council resolution asserting that Ouattara won the election last month. They say this exceeds the mandate of the UN in the matter.

The Election Commission says Ouattara won and the Constitutional Council says the incumbent Gbagbo won. Smell a rat or two?

Set aside the question of who fouled the results. Does Resolution 1528 actually give the UN the mandate to decide the winner in a contested situation? Clauses m and q-10 might be stretched to fit: "prepare for and assist in the conduct of ... elections", "demands that the parties fulfill their obligations under the Linas-Marcoussis agreement". But "assist in" doesn't mean oversee or certify.

So on the face of it, Russia is correct. The UN can (and probably should, though I don't know all the details yet) say that the election results are botched and urge CdI to figure it out themselves or submit to arbitration, but they have no mandate to decide the results.

No comments: