Ivory Coast political rivals agree on voter list: PM

ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast's presidential candidates have all accepted a voter list produced by the electoral commission, the prime minister said on Monday, a sign that a poll delayed for five years may finally take place.

"I'm happy to tell you that we are all agreed on the definitive electoral list," Prime Minister Guillaume Soro told journalists in the presence of electoral rivals President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition candidates Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie, after a meeting with them.

"We are telling the electoral commission president to do what he can to make the electoral list available this week. The list will be sanctioned by a decree by the President."

The electoral commission said on Thursday it had produced a final voter list for the first time, raising the chance that an election that has been repeatedly delayed since 2005 might actually go ahead.

The election is needed to end years of turmoil in the once prosperous west African nation, after a failed 2002 rebellion against Gbagbo cut the country in two, scaring off investment and damaging the economy.

Key reforms to the cocoa sector in the world's top grower, which supplies 40 percent of world demand, also hinge on it.

Previous efforts by the commission to produce a list were frustrated by political wrangling. The voter register has been the main sticking point between Gbagbo and the opposition, and court battles over it have been long and tortuous.

Gbagbo's supporters had said they suspected earlier lists included fraudsters from Burkina Faso and Mali. The opposition called the objections a pretext for removing people unlikely to vote for Gbagbo.

The commission has said it plans to post the list up on polling stations from October 10-12, but has not said anything about publishing it before then.

The last election date of November 29, 2009 was missed largely because of disagreements over the voter roll. In February, Gbagbo dissolved the government and electoral commission, after accusing its former head of illegally adding names to the list, sparking violent demonstrations.

While Ivory Coast seems closer to peace than at any time since the 2002-3 war, sceptics say the country has seemed to be emerging from crisis before, only to slide back into discord.

The voter list has not changed much since Gbagbo last rejected it, and there have been concerns that he could still find ways to delay the process again if he becomes dissatisfied.

Another sticking point has been rebel disarmament. The rebels have not disarmed but say they have confined their fighters to barracks for the vote, in accordance with a 2007 peace deal.

Source: http://af.reuters.com/