Ivory Coast ID row adds to vote delay, stokes fears

By Loucoumane Coulibaly

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A row over voter eligibility could further delay Ivory Coast's election by several months and analysts and diplomats say it may deepen a political crisis by playing into the hands of hardliners.

Most of the main political factions in the world's No. 1 cocoa supplier have recognised that a poll -- seen as crucial in luring back investment to the country scarred by civil war -- will miss a November 29 deadline, although the election commission has yet to announce a delay.

The dispute concerns 1.9 million people who were registered as potential voters but have not yet proved their eligibility, and underscores the role of nationality in a crisis simmering since the 2002-3 war split the nation in two.

President Laurent Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party, which has long-campaigned along nationalist lines, wants all 1.9 million people to defend their case in court before they can join the 4.3 million whose registration has been accepted.

"If they do it for 1.9 million, they will need another three months (to draw up a provisional list)," said Rinaldo Depagne, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank.

Any provisional list must be posted for one month for voters to check before the final lists is drawn up and cards printed.

"This is an awful lot of people to be processed," an Abidjan-based diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous, said, adding that he was concerned by the scope of the delay.

The November 29 deadline will be the fifth to have passed since Gbagbo's first term officially expired in 2005. Critics accuse all sides of profiting from the tortuous peace process, which ended the fighting but left the nation divided.