INTERVIEW-Ivorian poll not for Gbagbo to set, says rival
* Opposition leader calls for consensus on poll delay
* Bedie calls for increased cocoa regulation
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
KORHOGO, Ivory Coast, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Any new election date in Ivory Coast should be set by broad political agreement and not at the whim of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, opposition leader Henri Konan Bedie said.
The election, intended to pull the West African nation out of political limbo following a 2002-2203 civil war that split the country along a north-south divide, has been repeatedly delayed since 2005 and is now set for Nov. 29.
But while the election commission has yet to announce a new delay, virtually all sides recognise it is inevitable as the eligibility of over 1 million voters still needs to be checked.
"If enough technical and not political reasons are put forward ... maybe we can come to an agreement on a delay of a few weeks," Bedie, a former president and one of two main rivals to Gbagbo, told Reuters late on Sunday.
"But we cannot allow (Gbagbo's) Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) to lay down the law by itself," he said in the interview, conducted in the northern town of Korhogo while Bedie was campaigning.
Bedie succeeded President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, a fellow Democratic Party (PDCI) member and Ivory Coast's long-serving post-independence leader, in 1993 before he was ousted in the country's first military coup in 1999.
The election commission announced on Sunday it had narrowed to just over 1 million, from 1.9 million, the number of people who have registered to vote but whose eligibility was in doubt.
Analysts have warned that this process, which must then be followed by at least one month of allowing voters and parties to check provisional lists before voter cards are printed, could still take several months.
Some 5.3 million people have successfully registered for the vote but the row over eligibility has underscored the continuing deep divisions over nationality and identity, issues that have fuelled violence and frustrations throughout the crisis.
COCOA REFORM
Rivals have accused Gbagbo of delaying the poll until he was confident of victory. Analysts also note that opponents want an earlier poll because they have limited campaign resources and will struggle to get exposure at time passes.
"The state media is being manipulated, purely to the advantage of the FPI," Bedie said. Gbagbo's party has repeatedly denied such allegations.
Although most of the fighting ended relatively quickly and a string of peace deals have led to consensus governments, rebels still control the north and the country has lost its status as the region's political and economic powerhouse.
Bedie said he was campaigning for a more regulated system to replace Ivory Coast's liberalised but ailing cocoa sector, seen as crucial to the livelihood of some six million Ivorians out of a population of some 20 million.
After maintaining output steady around 1.3 million tonnes throughout the war, cocoa, the mainstay of the economy, is also set for a serious decline, analysts say.
Bedie, like Gbagbo and his other main rival, Alassane Ouattara, wants to restore order to a sector hit by mismanagement and lack of investment by replacing the plethora of cocoa bodies with a central, government-run organisation, similar to the one abandoned a decade ago.
"Yes, we foresee a return to this scheme in that we want to support the (cocoa) and, especially, avoid the proliferation of bodies that led to Ivory Coast's spectacular decline," he said. (Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Charles Dick) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com)
* Bedie calls for increased cocoa regulation
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
KORHOGO, Ivory Coast, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Any new election date in Ivory Coast should be set by broad political agreement and not at the whim of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, opposition leader Henri Konan Bedie said.
The election, intended to pull the West African nation out of political limbo following a 2002-2203 civil war that split the country along a north-south divide, has been repeatedly delayed since 2005 and is now set for Nov. 29.
But while the election commission has yet to announce a new delay, virtually all sides recognise it is inevitable as the eligibility of over 1 million voters still needs to be checked.
"If enough technical and not political reasons are put forward ... maybe we can come to an agreement on a delay of a few weeks," Bedie, a former president and one of two main rivals to Gbagbo, told Reuters late on Sunday.
"But we cannot allow (Gbagbo's) Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) to lay down the law by itself," he said in the interview, conducted in the northern town of Korhogo while Bedie was campaigning.
Bedie succeeded President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, a fellow Democratic Party (PDCI) member and Ivory Coast's long-serving post-independence leader, in 1993 before he was ousted in the country's first military coup in 1999.
The election commission announced on Sunday it had narrowed to just over 1 million, from 1.9 million, the number of people who have registered to vote but whose eligibility was in doubt.
Analysts have warned that this process, which must then be followed by at least one month of allowing voters and parties to check provisional lists before voter cards are printed, could still take several months.
Some 5.3 million people have successfully registered for the vote but the row over eligibility has underscored the continuing deep divisions over nationality and identity, issues that have fuelled violence and frustrations throughout the crisis.
COCOA REFORM
Rivals have accused Gbagbo of delaying the poll until he was confident of victory. Analysts also note that opponents want an earlier poll because they have limited campaign resources and will struggle to get exposure at time passes.
"The state media is being manipulated, purely to the advantage of the FPI," Bedie said. Gbagbo's party has repeatedly denied such allegations.
Although most of the fighting ended relatively quickly and a string of peace deals have led to consensus governments, rebels still control the north and the country has lost its status as the region's political and economic powerhouse.
Bedie said he was campaigning for a more regulated system to replace Ivory Coast's liberalised but ailing cocoa sector, seen as crucial to the livelihood of some six million Ivorians out of a population of some 20 million.
After maintaining output steady around 1.3 million tonnes throughout the war, cocoa, the mainstay of the economy, is also set for a serious decline, analysts say.
Bedie, like Gbagbo and his other main rival, Alassane Ouattara, wants to restore order to a sector hit by mismanagement and lack of investment by replacing the plethora of cocoa bodies with a central, government-run organisation, similar to the one abandoned a decade ago.
"Yes, we foresee a return to this scheme in that we want to support the (cocoa) and, especially, avoid the proliferation of bodies that led to Ivory Coast's spectacular decline," he said. (Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Charles Dick) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com)
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