ICoast leader urges ex-rival Gbagbo's party to contest polls

Supporters of the Ivorian Popular Front cheer during a rally in support of Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan, on October 30. By Sia Kambou (AFP/File)

ABIDJAN (AFP) - Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said Monday he wanted the party of his ousted predecessor Laurent Gbagbo to take part in the December 11 legislative elections.

Ouattara, who emerged victorious -- with Western backing -- from a deadly electoral dispute with Gbagbo this year, was speaking hours before the deadline for registration and after a meeting with former president Henri Konan Bedie.

"We agree that it would be a good thing for the FPI (Ivorian Popular Front) to take part in this contest because it's democracy and having a parliament where large parties are represented would be a good thing," he told reporters.

Gbagbo was arrested in April after four months of a crisis that erupted when he refused to concede defeat in last November's polls and left around 3,000 people dead.

His camp says his release is a condition for any national reconciliation and his party has demanded the reshuffle of an electoral body it accuses of being biased in favour of Ouattara.

© 2011 AFP