Nigeria, March 6 -- Ivory Coast is set to vote in a parliamentary ballot on Saturday in a key test of stability after presidential elections last year marked by violence.

Grappling with a deep political crisis, President Alassane Ouattara has offered an olive branch to his former rival, Laurent Gbagbo, whose party has now lifted a decade-long boycott of elections.

His Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) is the driving force of a centre-left coalition named Together for Democracy and Solidarity (EDS).

More than 1,500 candidates are vying for the votes of roughly seven million people in a contest for the 255-seat National Assembly.

In contrast to the bloodshed that marked the October 31 presidential polls, campaigning has been as peaceful as it...