The UN Security Council on Wednesday welcomed the statement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Cote d'Ivoire, recognizing opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the run-off presidential elections in the country.

The members of the Security Council welcomed the statement of ECOWAS and the African Union to recognize Ouattara as the president-elect of Cote d'Ivoire, Brooke D. Anderson, the deputy U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for December, said in a statement read to the press here.

"The members of the Security Council welcome the communique of the chairman of the African Union, the statement of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the final communiques of the Dec. 7 ECOWAS Commission Extraordinary session of the authority of heads of state and government on Cote d'Ivoire held in Abuja, Nigeria," the statement said.

The statement was issued at the end of the closed-door consultations among 15 Security Council members, ending days of deadlock on how to respond to the post-election political standoff in the West African country.

"In view of ECOWAS's recognition of Mr. Alassane Ouattara as president-elect of Cote d'Ivoire and representative of the freely expressed voice of the Ivorian people, as proclaimed by the Independent Electoral Commission, the members of the Security Council call on all stakeholders to respect the outcome of the election," the statement said.

Choi Youngjin, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Cote d'Ivoire, has said that Ouattara has definitively won the run-off presidential election in the West African country, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here Wednesday.

"Choi said that the will of the people as expressed on the 28th of November is irrefutable," Nesirky said.

"The members of the Security Council reiterate their support for the constructive role of the (UN) secretary-general in Cote d'Ivoire and stress the important role that the United Nations operation in Cote d'Ivoire under the leadership of his special representative, continues to play under its existing mandate," the statement said.

"The members of the Security Council welcome efforts by the African Union, ECOWAS and countries in the region to assist in preserving peace and stability in Cote d'Ivoire."