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Ivory Coast Presidential Candidates Agree on Voter List

   Scott Stearns | Dakar 07 September 2010
   Ivory  Coast's  Prime  Minister  Guillaume  Soro  (C)  speaks during a
   meeting  with President Laurent Gbagbo (2ndL) and party leaders at the
   presidential palace in Abidjan, 06 Sep 2010, ahead of a president

Photo: AFP

   Ivory  Coast's  Prime  Minister  Guillaume  Soro  (C)  speaks during a
   meeting  with President Laurent Gbagbo (2ndL) and party leaders at the
   presidential  palace  in Abidjan, 06 Sep 2010, ahead of a presidential
   poll on 31 Oct 2010

   Presidential  candidates in Ivory Coast have accepted a new voter list
   for a much-postponed election now scheduled for the end of October.

   Disputes  over  voter eligibility in Ivory Coast have been the biggest
   obstacle  to an election that has been delayed seven times in the past
   five  years. So all the candidates agreeing on a new electoral list is
   the clearest sign yet that this vote may finally take place.

   Prime  Minister  Guillaume  Soro  made  the  announcement  in  a joint
   appearance  with  President  Laurent  Gbagbo  and his electoral rivals
   Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie.

   Prime  Minister  Soro  says together, the men have agreed presidential
   elections  will  actually take place on October 31. So it is necessary
   to  move forward toward a definitive electoral list, and he says he is
   happy to say that all of them agree on this definitive list.

   Prime  Minister  Soro  says  they  are all asking the president of the
   independent  national electoral commission to make this list available
   to  the  public this week. They are also asking the electoral chairman
   to  make  sure the vote is organized so that all ballot papers and all
   electoral documents are ready on schedule.

   The prime minister says the men, together, agree that this vote should
   be held in a climate of serenity and tranquility.

   Seven  months  ago,  opposition  demonstrators staged violent protests
   against  President  Gbagbo dissolving the government and the electoral
   commission  because  he  said  more than 400,000 people were illegally
   registered to vote.

   Questions  of  voter  eligibility  in  Ivory  Coast focus primarily on
   descendants  of  migrant  workers  from  Burkina  Faso  and  Mali. The
   president's  supporters  dispute their nationality. Opposition leaders
   say  those  objections  are  meant  to  disenfranchise  people who are
   unlikely to vote for the ruling party.

   The  vote  is  meant  to  reunite  the  country after fighting in 2002
   divided  Ivory Coast between north and south. Under a 2007 peace deal,
   rebels  in  the  north  were to be disarmed. Instead, rebels say their
   forces will be confined to barracks for the vote.