Appeal to delay Ivory Coast vote

The Election Commission in the Ivory Coast has asked the military government to delay the presidential elections that are scheduled for September the seventeenth.

The Commission wants the ballot put back to mid-October.

In a nationally televised speech, the Commission president , Honore Guie, said they needed more time to register voters, prepare election guidelines and order and distribute balloting materials.

The government has so far not responded to the request.

The vote is designed to return Ivory Coast to civilian rule following the military coup last December.

Nineteen candidates have entered the race, among them the leader of the military government, General Robert Guei.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service