* Ivory Coast edges closer to post-war elections
* Final serious political hurdle now removed (adds President Gbagbo at rally, paragraphs 9-10)
By Tim Cocks
ABIDJAN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. mission to Ivory Coast certified its final voter list as "fair and transparent" on Friday, adding momentum to plans to hold elections at last after years of failure.
Voting is scheduled for Oct. 31, but six dates have already been missed in the past five years because of arguing over voters' identities and the disarmament of rebel groups.
Elections are needed to draw a line under Ivory Coast's civil war of 2002 and 2003 which caused investors to flee what had been West Africa's economic success story.
Voting could make way for reforms necessary to fix the cocoa sector in the world's top producer, which supplies two-thirds of world demand but has been hurt by under-investment.
"The challenges lying ahead are not to be underestimated, yet I remain confident that together, we shall meet them with success. The Ivorian people, who had suffered and waited for so long, deserve nothing less," U.N. mission chief Y. J. Choi told a news conference.
All parties to the conflict agreed this month on a final voter list, removing what appeared to be the last serious political hurdle in the way of polls after rebels who have run half the country since the war withdrew to barracks at the end of August.
"SOLID, BALANCED, CREDIBLE"
President Laurent Gbagbo's signature on a decree this month validating definitive voter lists was hailed as a huge step considering he scuppered earlier versions because he suspected they included names from Burkina Faso and Mali.
He has since said the main obstacles to holding elections on time are technical, not political.
At a rally to launch his campaign website in Abidjan's main university, Gbagbo urged thousands of dancing, cheering students to go out and vote in force.
"We are going to have elections that will finally put this crisis behind us," he said, to a loud applause.
About 6.38 million people had registered to vote, but about one million of those were disputed, mostly on the grounds of nationality. The issue fuelled the initial conflict, when many Ivorians from the north said they had been wrongly excluded from a presidential election in 2000.
The final voters list has 5,725,720 names on it.
"This list is solid, balanced, credible and certifiable," Choi said. "Despite multiple challenges and delays, the electoral process has been conducted in an atmosphere that could be qualified as peaceful and stable."
Choi said one positive, longer-term consequence of the process was that many Ivorians who lacked identity cards would now have them. The war that split Ivory Coast in two was largely about identity and who is Ivorian in a fertile land that has for decades attracted migrant labour. (Editing by Andrew Dobbie and Peter Graff)
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