20111208
Reuters
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The head of the party once led by former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo hit out on Wednesday at political allies who have broken a boycott of Sunday's parliamentary elections, marking a fracturing in what was once a unified pro-Gbagbo bloc.

Ivory Coast is due to go to the polls on December 11 to elect a new parliament, a key step in its recovery from a civil war and a test for President Alassane Ouattara as he tries to solidify his mandate over a divided country.

A former Gbagbo spokesman said three of the eight main pro-Gbagbo parties in Ivory coast would participate in the polls following conciliatory gestures from the government, having earlier boycotted the vote over alleged unfair treatment.

An official of Gbagbo's own former party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said ten of its members had been suspended from the party after putting forward their names as candidates for the 255-seat legislature.

"All members of the FPI who have put themselves forward as candidates have been suspended for indiscipline," said Sylvain Miaka Ouretto, interim party president. "They are not acting in the name of the party."

Ivory Coast is recovering from an armed power struggle that killed some 3,000 people and displaced more than a million after Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in the November 2010 presidential election against Ouattara.

Gbagbo is now facing charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague for his role in the war after a force of mostly northern ex-rebels, backed by French forces, captured him in the main city, Abidjan, in April.

He was flown to The Hague last week to face charges of crimes against humanity, the first former head of state expected to be tried by the ICC since its inception in 2002.