4.88 million on voters’ register

Cote d’Ivoire’s electoral commission, COSUR, announced at the weekend that 4.88 million voters had been registered in a revised electoral list for the constitutional referendum due on 23 July. The state-owned ‘Fraternite Matin’ quoted the chairman of the commission, Honore Guie, as saying that another 47,995 persons had been disqualified because they are not Ivorian. The issue of Ivorian nationality has been at the heart of the debate about the eligibility of former Prime Minister Allasan Ouattara to run for president. The draft constitution says that in order to run, at least one parent of the presidential candidate must be Ivorian by birth. Ouattara has told his supporters to vote‘ yes’ in the poll.