ABIDJAN, Nov 28 (AFP) - Ivory Coast will know by Saturday at the latest whether controversial opposition leader Alassane Ouattara may stand in the December 10 general election, a senior court official said Tuesday. Nouplezana Ouattara told AFP that he had "transmitted voters' objections to certain candidacies to the Supreme Court on Monday" and that the court would announce its decision on "Friday or Saturday at the latest." The court has seven days from the November 25 deadline for registering objections to hand down a ruling. On November 22, the national electoral commission declared Ouattara, a former prime minister and leader of the Rally of Republicans (RDR), among those eligible to run for the national assembly. The Supreme Court had barred Ouattara from running for the presidential elections, held on October 22, because of doubts over his nationality, but conditions of eligibility are not so strict for a parliamentary seat. The barring of Ouattara and of Emile Constant Bombet of the former ruling Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) from the presidential race pushed the two parties to boycott the election organized by the junta that came to power in a coup December 24 1999. The court official did not reveal how many challenges had been received or against whom, but any registered elector is permitted to contest a candidacy. Challengers interviewed by AFP said they had objected among others to the candidacies of Ouattara, Bombet and Simone Gbagbo, wife of President Laurent Gbagbo. omj/crl/tm _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------