Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-04-Speech-1-170"
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"en.20060904.21.1-170"2
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"Mr President, I was part of the Observation Mission, too, and the first-round polling day passed surprisingly smoothly, given the enormity of the task. As Mr Howitt said, the election agents were well trained and confident about what they were doing and showed great dedication.
There were a few things that appeared not to be organised absolutely perfectly. For instance, there did not appear to be a coherent plan for dealing with the enormous volume of material disgorged into the compilation centres – some of it sensitive material, some of it not. It is important in the weeks up to the second round that as much is done as possible to tighten up on any procedural weaknesses, so that there can be no technical grounds for dispute at what will be a very sensitive moment.
Secondly, we observers detected the perception in some quarters, as has been mentioned, that the EU was not neutral. It was an erroneous perception, but it could weaken the authority of the EU mission, which needs to be trusted by all sides. It could also potentially put EU election observers at risk.
The EU needs to work hard in the weeks up to the second round to convince the Congolese of its neutrality. Nothing must be done that could be construed as favouring one presidential candidate over the other.
Finally, I would stress – as did Mr Schröder – that no one must doubt how much this election matters. It matters for the Congolese, who have waited 40 years for democratic elections and who turned out in great numbers on 30 July, but it matters globally too. For example, there is a supposedly closed uranium mine in the south of the Congo from which uranium is still being mined and exported, probably to Iran. The world is not safe while there is an ungoverned hole in the heart of Africa."@en1
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