Abidjan , Ivory Coast ( CNN ) -- President Alassane Ouattara opened negotiations Thursday with a coalition of opposition parties to try to convince supporters of the country 's former president not to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections . `` We hope It is the beginning of a republican dialogue , '' said Miaka Oureto , acting president of the Front Populaire Ivoirien , the party of former President Laurent Gbagbo , at the end of the meeting . Last week , Gbagbo 's party pulled out of the commission in charge of the elections , citing a `` recent modification of the electoral commission 's composition in favor of the coalition of parties behind President Ouattara . '' It also denounced what it characterized as `` a climate of terror '' that is preventing the party leaders from freely participating in what party officials say could become a `` mockery of an election . '' The parliamentary elections are set to take place mid-December , and will close the electoral process that started with the violently disputed presidential elections last November . Ouattara was declared the winner by the electoral commission , but the results were annulled by the Constitutional Council -- which was made up of Gbagbo loyalists -- despite their certification by the United Nations , and Gbagbo refused to step down . The crisis claimed more than 3,000 lives and ended with the capture of Gbagbo on April 11 . The World Bank has said that Ivory Coast must hold credible elections if it hopes to secure international backing for a series of development projects . The meeting with the opposition comes a day after Ouattara officially installed the Commission on Dialogue , Truth and Reconciliation , fulfilling his promise to promote reconciliation in the aftermath of the post-electoral crisis . Comprised of 11 members , including religious and other civil society leaders , the commission has two years to heal the wounds of a nation profoundly divided since the first coup d ' Ã©tat of its history in 1999 . `` For a few months now , CÃ´te d'Ivoire is under reconstruction . But our largest construction site is the reconstitution of the Ivorian nation , '' Ouattara said , using the French name for the country . In the days following the capture and arrest of Gbagbo , the newly installed president appointed former Ivorian prime minister and political ally Jean Konan Banny as president of a commission for reconciliation that he vowed `` would be fair and independent . '' `` We know that reconciliation is the only way out of the impasse in which we locked ourselves , '' Banny said Wednesday , promising that `` the years to come will see the rising of a new ( Ivorian ) citizen . '' The optimism of Ouattara and Banny is not shared by Gbagbo supporters , who have denounced a `` justice of the victor '' attitude `` incompatible with the reconciliation they promote . '' `` I do n't think Mr. Ouattara really wants reconciliation . How could there be reconciliation when Laurent Gbagbo , his wife and most of our political leaders are illegally imprisoned with their assets frozen ? '' asked Gbabgo communication adviser Alain Toussaint . `` There is no reconciliation without Gbagbo . '' So far , Ouattara has yet to bring any of his supporters to justice , even though the United Nations and human rights groups accused both sides of perpetrating massive human rights violations in the aftermath of the elections . On the eve of the installation of the reconciliation commission , South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned that `` the perception that 'victor 's justice ' is being applied would greatly undermine the reconciliation process . '' `` We encourage President Ouattara to demonstrate to his people and the world that the judicial process he has started is both fair and completely impartial , '' the archbishop said in a statement .
He appointed a special commission . More than 3,000 people died in the violent post - election crisis . Friends of the former president threaten to boycott upcoming elections .