20100909
africanews

Ivory Coast's President Laurent Gbagbo signed a decree on Thursday validating definitive voter lists in the West African country, removing one of the last hurdles before long-delayed elections can take place. A presidential vote in the world's top cocoa grower is scheduled for October 31.

The election, delayed repeatedly since 2005, is intended to bring to an end years of political crisis in the region's former economic hub, divided in two by a 2002-03 civil war.

"I am a happy man, like a child, because we are finally leaving this situation behind," Gbagbo told reporters.

"We are at the end of our pain. We have finished the definitive electoral list," he said. "We have said we are all agreed."

Last week, the electoral commission said it had produced a final voter list for the first time. Voter register had been the main sticking point between Gbagbo and the opposition, and the battle over it in the courts had been long and tortuous.

"We believe the election is set to happen now and the reason is that Gbagbo now thinks he can win," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, analyst at DaMina Advisors.

"At the moment he has the backing of Prime Minister Soro and the opposition is in shambles."

The cocoa sector, key to the Ivorian economy, has long been waiting for an elected government which has the power to introduce the reforms that many farmers and analysts say the industry needs in order to make it more productive.

"We are ready," Gbagbo said. "There remains just the technical work. One problem is the ... (electoral card) distribution. The other problem is the when the results come in. We don't want a fight. He who wins, wins."