Key last-minute change to Ivory Coast constitution ABIDJAN, July 17 (AFP) - The head of Ivory Coast's ruling junta on Monday announced a last minute change to the constitution to be voted on July 23 concerning the eligibility of presidential candidates. The new version of article 35 of the proposed constitution states that a presidential candidate "must be Ivorian by origin, born of a mother and father themselves of Ivorian origin". The previous version published May 26 had an "or" in place of the "and", meaning that a candidate had to be of Ivorian origin but that only one of their parents had to be of Ivorian origin. The change came by presidential decree after campaigning for the constitutional referendum began on Sunday. The importance of the distinction between the "and" and the "or" in the wording of the constitution has dominated Ivorian politics for weeks. The polemic on the origins of presidential candidates started under former president Henri Konan Bedie, ousted by Guei in the December 24 coup. Bedie accused former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR) and presidential candidate, of being from Burkina Faso and therefore unable to be president of Ivory Coast. Guei has changed his mind several times on the issue, saying that he had finally decided to put this change in place after touring the country and finding that the vast majority of Ivorians were in favour of candidates having an Ivorian mother and father and not just one Ivorian parent. "The spokespeople of the the population of inland Ivory Coast in 15 of the 18 regions visited are in favour of and insist on the "and" in place of the "or"," said Guei. "The people have expressed their will. We are here to meet their expectations," he added. As for the effect of Monday's decision on Ouattara, the RDR spokesman, Aly Coulibaly responded by saying: "Our candidate is perfectly eligible." "The president of the RDR is not in any way affected by this last-minute modification, his father and mother are of Ivorian origin," said Coulibaly. He said however that the RDR, which had called for a "yes" vote in the referendum would announce its position shortly. Sidi Sanneh ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------