Despite the setback the leaders vowed to continue talking while the clock ticks towards a crucial United Nations meeting on Ivory Coast in two weeks' time.
"There was no agreement but we decided to try and come up with a solution to take the process forward," said Sidiki Konate, spokesman for the New Forces rebels who control the northern half of the country.
"We will keep in contact, even if we cannot today tell the people of Ivory Coast that we can get the process moving," he told reporters at the end of the talks in Yamoussoukro.
The closed door meeting brought together transitional Prime Minister
Charles Konan Banny, President Laurent Gbagbo, rebel leader Gillaume Soro and opposition leaders Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara.
Enduring stalemate
The five men sought to make headway on the contentious issue of voter registration.
That issue has stalled the peace process, which also stipulates that the warring parties must be disarmed and nationwide elections must be held.
The UN was forced to admit two weeks ago that the October 31 deadline it had set for a presidential election in Ivory Coast would be missed due to delays in preparations for the poll.
This will be the second broken deadline for the ballot. In October 2005 the UN agreed to delay the election for 12 months and extended Mr Gbagbo's term of office for that period.
Faced with the enduring stalemate the UN has been force to tread a difficult path between trying to get things moving at the risk of reviving tensions and letting the main Ivorian players work out their differences alone at the risk of seeing no progress at all.
Some sources close to Tuesday's talks had already suggested before the meeting that it was merely a face-saving move by Mr Banny ahead of two crucial international meetings on the crisis.
Gilles Yabi, a specialist on Ivory Coast with the global think-tank International Crisis Group (IGC), agreed. "This meeting is in the interest of Banny," he told AFP in Dakar.
"The prime minister is the one who wants to have something to present to the international working group (on Ivory Coast)," Mr Yabi said. "I will be surprised if there is going to be an important decision."
The outcome of the Yamoussoukro talks will be scrutinised by the panel of international power brokers on Friday in Abidjan.
The five political leaders will meet again in New York on September 20 when the UN will pressure them to reach a deal after four years of deadlock and backsliding.