Two days after resigning as the leader of Côte d’Ivoire’s major opposition party, former international banker Tidjane Thiam was re-elected to the position on Wednesday.
Thiam stepped down as head of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) on Monday amid the repercussions of a court ruling that barred him from competing in the presidential election scheduled for October 25.
According to party Vice Chairman Georges Ezaley, Thiam obtained 99.77 per cent of the 5,190 votes cast during an extraordinary congress as the sole candidate in the recent party vote. A group of supporters cheered outside the party headquarters when the results were revealed.
Thiam attributed the situation that effectively removed him from the presidential race to “judicial harassment.”
An Abidjan court removed him from the electoral list last month, declaring that the 62-year-old lost his Ivorian nationality upon acquiring French citizenship in 1987.
Candidates for the presidency are prohibited from holding dual citizenship. Thiam, born in Côte d’Ivoire, renounced his French citizenship in March to allow him to pursue the presidential position.
Having not been in Côte d’Ivoire for over a month, Thiam still faces a legal challenge anticipated to be heard on Thursday regarding his original election as president of the PDCI in 2023. This case was initiated by a party member who questions Thiam’s Ivorian nationality. Nonetheless, party loyalists continue to back him.
Despite this optimism, analysts have pointed out that Thiam will likely encounter difficulties this year.
Ivorian authorities maintain that only the courts can amend the electoral list. Additionally, three other opposition figures, including former president Laurent Gbagbo, have been barred from the presidential election due to criminal convictions.
President Alassane Ouattara, 83, has been in office since 2011. His party has not yet nominated him, but he has expressed his intention to “continue serving the country.”
