Ivory Coast's electoral commission extended a period for contesting voter lists by 10 days to January 6 as fewer than half of contested cases were processed. An early March poll remains feasible.

Six million voters registered, a million of them were contested.

"The commission notes that little more than 40 percent of the claimshave been received and treated," Nicolas Coulibaly, commission spokesman, said in the statement issued late on Monday night. Once contested cases have been processed, Ivory Coast's courts then have eight days to produce a final voter list, but a two-week strike by clerks has created a backlog in courts.

So many poll deadlines have been missed that opposition politicians accuse President Laurent Gbagbo of deliberately slowing the process to extend his mandate, a charge he denies.

source: Reuters