The country’s Independent Electoral Commission handed over the list yesterday to Young-Jin Choi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNOCI, who called it an important step toward reaching the end of the crisis in the West African nation, split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-ruled south and a rebel-controlled north.

The elections, originally scheduled for as far back as 2005, are planned for 29 November after repeated postponements, but UN officials have voiced concern at possible further setbacks.

Mr. Choi said he hoped that the remaining tasks in the electoral process – including printing and handing out of voter cards – would be done quickly.

The list will now be distributed to polling stations around the country in order to launch the five-week appeals process that will precede the finalization of the voters’ list.

According to UNOCI, the transport of the list to polling stations should end early next week. It will be officially published when it has reached all polling stations.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

UN receives provisional voters’ list for much delayed Ivorian presidential poll