ABIDJAN, March 21 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast arrested an opposition politician after he called on Ivorians to follow the example of Madagascar whose president was forced out this week, his party said on Saturday.

Innocent Anaky, leader of the Movement of Future Forces, suggested in a state television broadcast in the world's biggest cocoa grower that Ivorians should remove President Laurent Gbagbo from power.

"He is under arrest. He is in trouble for having called on the Ivorian people to take to the streets to overthrow President Gbagbo," said Phillipe Legre, secretary of Anaky's party.

A police source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Anaky was being held by security forces and questioned about the broadcast he made on Wednesday.

Anaky, a former minister who has become a frequent and harsh critic of Gbagbo, said in his broadcast that Ivorians should "throw Gbagbo from power and set in motion a genuine transition."

Elections in the West African country, once the region's most prosperous economy but which has endured years of crisis since it was split by a 2002-2003 civil war, have been repeatedly delayed.

Former rebels in the north have not disarmed, registration of the estimated 7 million people eligible to vote is far from complete, and analysts say Gbagbo's ruling party the Ivorian Popular Front is reluctant to hold a poll it has no guarantees of winning.

The African Union suspended Madagascar on Friday after opposition leader Andry Rajoelina's took over with army support following months of protests against President Marc Ravalomanana.

Ravalomanana had handed over to the military, who in turn conferred power on Rajoelina to be president. Major Western powers including the United States and the European Union have termed Rajoelina's rise a coup d'etat. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Katie Nguyen)

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