UN calls for restraint after delay in Guinea Presidential election results

New York, 04 July-(ANA)-The top United Nations official in West Africa has urged Guinea’s presidential candidates and their supporters to continue to show restraint ahead of the much 

anticipated release of results from the country’s first democratic elections since it gained independence more than half a century ago.

 Provisional results from Guinea’s independent electoral commission could be released soon after they were delayed by 48 hours this week because of logistical, transport and security difficulties.

 Media reports say that tensions are rising  as the people wait for the results from the vote in which 24 candidates competed 

for president. 

 The ballot was considered to be the first free election in 

Guinea, whose history since independence in 1958 has been marked by a series of coups and military or autocratic regimes.

 Said Djinnit, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, called on all political parties to continue to respect their commitments to a peaceful process and to only use legal channels to resolve any disputes they may have about the results.(ANA)

FA/ANA/04 July 2010-----------