ABIDJAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo left Abidjan late Tuesday for Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to attend a two-day meeting for the permanent consultation forum (CPC), a result of the political accord signed in March 2007 in Burkinabe's capital.

    Gbagbo left at about 7 p.m. local time (GMT and local time) aboard a private jet. He did not say anything to the press.

    He was to be joined in the Burkinabe capital by his Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, the head of the former rebel New Forces, and the two Ivorian opposition leaders Alassane Ouattara and HenriKonan Bedie, local media reported.

    The CPC, which will hold the meeting on Thursday and Friday, is an instrument for "promoting dialogue in order to preserve social cohesion," comprising the protagonists in the lvorian crisis and the facilitator, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso.

    The meeting will be the sixth of its kind. It comes after the postponement of the planned Nov. 29 presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire. There is fear about the process in jeopardy, although the international community hopes the polls will be held in weeks after repeated delays.

    The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) announced last month that the election date will be "put off for a little while," without giving a new timetable.

    The meeting, according to well-informed sources, is aimed at coming up with another date for the elections.

    It will also discuss the essential questions of the electoral process, especially how to handle contentious electoral issues before publishing the final voter list.

    About 5.3 million Ivorians have been registered on the provisional electoral list, while one million contentious cases are being dealt with complaints reported to the authorities within 38 days since a week ago.

    The resolving of the contentious issues will open the way for preparation of the final electoral list and to the preparation and distribution of voters' cards before the official opening of the campaign for the West African country's top post. Cote d'Ivoire has never succeeded in its plan to hold the elections since 2005, when the constitutional mandate of Gbagbo came to an end.

    The country remains divided despite a series of peace accords brokered by Compaore since a botched coup d'etat against Gbagbo's regime in September 2002.