Ivory Coast’s president, opposition leader and key electoral officials told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that a repeatedly delayed presidential vote can take place as scheduled on Nov. 30.

The election is key to restoring Ivory Coast to the ranks of functioning democracies. The country _ split in two after an attempted coup sparked civil war in 2002 _ signed a peace deal in March 2007 that brought key rebel leaders into the administration and offered the best hope yet of a single government after years of foundering accords and disarmament plans.

“There’s a convergence that was not there a year ago, that everybody says `yes, we have to do it on the 30th,’” said South Africa’s U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo.

During a series of meeting with all the key players _ the politicians, generals, election experts and civic representatives _ council members said they were struck by the determination of all parties not to delay the election again.

Kumalo said President Laurent Gbagbo told the council during an hour-long meeting: “We need to elect a president, and he joked and said, `I hope, of course, that they re-elect.’”

Beugre Mambe, the head of Ivory Coast’s independent electoral commission also expressed confidence that the repeatedly rescheduled vote will finally take place, as did opposition leader Alassane Ouattara _ a former prime minister who has said he will run for president.

The council was in Ivory Coast for a one-day visit _ the final stop on a six-nation trip to African hotspots _ to promote reconciliation and to see how the U.N. can assist the presidential election.

Council members reiterated that the U.N. and the 9,200-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast will support the electoral process, but they refused to take on the activist role the Ivorian government wanted.

Kumalo said Gbagbo told the council that preparations for the elections were going too slowly and urged members to “put pressure on the people that are supposed to run the elections.”

But he said he told the president that “the Security Council is not election central.”

The council also raised several election-related issues.

“We are concerned about security issues, but the president himself assured us that he had no worries in that regard,” Kafando said. “He felt that Ivorians themselves have so much at stake that nothing would really happen.”

Mambe, the electoral commission chief, said the commission has been meeting almost every day with key partners to finalize the system of voter registration. He assured Ivorians that the national census and registration would be transparent.

“I want the observers to come now to observe the system of electoral registration,” Mambe said. “Now it is the time to observe _ now. Don’t wait two or three days before the election to observe.”

Ouattara, the opposition leader, urged U.N. peacekeepers to maintain security throughout the vote, noting that militias still control large parts of Ivory Coast even after the country reunified its rebel-run north and government-controlled south.

Gen. Soumaila Bakayoko _ a former rebel commander now in the government army _ said disarmament is occurring, but “little by little.” He said that the militia fighters need to be retrained so they can enter society as civilians.