* Ivorians to choose president in post-war election
* Violence feared as campaign rhetoric turns nasty
* Peaceful poll needed to end crisis in top cocoa grower
By Tim Cocks
ABIDJAN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Ivorians vote on Sunday in an election that will test whether they can finally put a decade of north-south division behind them, as onlookers fear tension surrounding the poll may rekindle violence.
President Laurent Gbagbo faces Alassane Ouattara, his rival from the rebel-controlled north, in a neck-and-neck second round that is likely to be disputed whatever the outcome.
The election is meant to reunite Ivory Coast after the 2002-3 war which split this once prosperous West African nation.
A televised debate between Ouattara and Gbagbo overnight showed them being civil and polite to each other, but divisive campaign rhetoric by the two candidates and clashes between supporters this week have soured the mood. [ID:nLDE6AO26B]
Many Ivorians remain deeply sceptical of their leaders' commitment to reconciling a nation fractured by years of ethnic conflict, land tensions and a dispute over national identity.
"Gbagbo wants to keep power, Ouattara wants to take power and neither of them wants to lose. I fear their supporters are going to fight battles after the results," said Ladji Souma, 28.
Polling stations open at 7 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday and close at 5 p.m. (1700 GMT), when ballots are to be counted on site. The electoral commission has said it will issue results as they come in, after being criticised for taking three days in the Oct. 31 first round that raised tensions.
U.N. peacekeepers -- nearly 10,000 are deployed -- will ship ballots through tropical forests and cocoa fields for tallying.
Gbagbo announced he planned to impose a curfew during the election, starting at 10pm (2200 GMT). The opposition denounced it as an cover for rigging the vote.
The world's top cocoa grower has a history of trouble around polls and campaign language has bordered on inciting violence.
Both accuse the other of stirring past unrest. Gbagbo's camp have pointed to Ouattara's Burkinabe roots to dub him the "foreign candidate", raking up the anti-immigrant sentiment that was a key trigger to the civil war in the first place.
In one reference to Ouattara, Gbagbo urged supporters not to drop their clubs because "the snake is not yet dead".
CALLS FOR CALM
The U.N., European Union and former colonial power France all urged calm and restraint on Thursday, while the International Crisis Group issued a report warning of a return to war as youths loyal to each side clashed in the streets.
The north-south divisions in this show-down closely resemble those that started the war, with the north and parts of Abidjan housing mostly Muslim northerners voting for Ouattara in the first round, enabling him to take 32 percent of the poll.
The government-run, mostly Christian south tended to vote Gbagbo, who got 38 percent.
A middle belt of ethnic Baoule voters favoured Henri Konan Bedie and both candidates are chasing those votes. It is unclear if Baoule voters will honour a deal between Bedie and Ouattara.
Cocoa futures have seemed to shrug off the risks. On ICE were they were slightly lower in thin trade, with March <CCH1> down 0.72 percent to ${esc.dollar}2773 a tonne at 1429 GMT.
But Ivory Coast's ${esc.dollar}2.3 billion Eurobond <CI049648839=RRPS> which traded below 10 percent for the first time following the peaceful first round, has crept back up to 10.5 percent. (Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Ange Aboa; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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