Ivory Coast – Election

The United Nations is urging Ivory Coast presidential candidates to accept the results of Sunday’s long-awaited election.

In a statement through his spokesperson, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called on all parties and candidates to help maintain a calm atmosphere and file any complaints about the results through the legal system.

Mr. Ban’s representative in Ivory Coast, Young-jin Choi, expressed confidence Monday that the results would be accepted.

Ivorians are anxiously awaiting returns from the presidential poll, the country’s first since a 2002 civil war.

The electoral commission Monday released some tallies from Ivorians voting abroad. President Laurent Gbagbo won among voters in Ghana and South Africa, while challenger Alassane Ouattara won among voters in Gabon, Mali and Spain.

In an interview on state television, the commission’s permanent secretarysaid officials will meet a Wednesday deadline for complete results.

Fourteen presidential candidates were on the ballot Sunday. Mr. Gbagbo’s main challengers are Mr. Ouattara, who is a former prime minister, and former president Henri Konan Bedie.

Mr. Gbagbo’s term ended in 2005. But, until Sunday’s vote, new elections were repeatedly postponed because of failure to disarm rebels in the north, and disputes over voter registration.

Many Ivorians say they fear that losing candidates will reject the election results and set off a new wave of violence.

A 9,000-member security force of U.N. peacekeepers and French troops is standing by in case of trouble.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a run-off between the top two finishers.

The 2002 civil war split Ivory Coast into a rebel-controlled north and a government-run south. The two sides signed a peace deal in 2007.