Ivory Coast’s main opposition leader, who has been barred from standing in an October presidential vote, said Monday that he was resigning as party leader but would still lead the fight to win the election.
Six months before voters choose a new head of state, political tensions are running high in the west African country where several opposition figures have been declared ineligible to stand.
For months, Tidjane Thiam’s campaign for the presidency has been mired in tussles over his nationality.
A court in Abidjan struck him off the electoral list last month, saying the 62-year-old politician had lost Ivorian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987.
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Thiam, who has not been in Ivory Coast for more than a month, also faces a legal case against his election as head of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI).
That case was brought by a party member who also contests Thiam’s Ivorian nationality at the time he was chosen.
“In the interest of the party, I’ve decided to place my mandate as president of the party in your hands, the activists,” Thiam said in a speech published on social media.
But the former banker, who remains the party’s deputy president, made it clear his decision to step down did not mean he was withdrawing from the battle for the presidency.
“This decision does not change the commitment I made in December 2023 to personally lead our party to victory in October 2025,” he said.
“I know that after electing me in 2023, you will give me your trust again,” he added.
Presidential candidates are not allowed to hold dual citizenship. Thiam was born in Ivory Coast and renounced his French passport in March to enable his run for the top job.
In removing him from the electoral list, the court based its ruling on article 48 of the nationality code, which dates back to the 1960s.
It states that acquiring another nationality means forgoing Ivorian citizenship.
Urgent Party Meeting
Following Thiam’s announcement, PDCI deputy president Ernest N’Koumo Mobio assumes the party’s interim leadership.
The 92-year-old appealed for “cohesion, serenity and discipline” and called a party meeting early Monday due to “the urgency linked to the political situation”.
A senior PDCI member said the meeting would allow them to “reaffirm the party’s total support for” Thiam.
Around 100 supporters gathered early Monday at the party’s headquarters where riot police had been deployed. The supporters carried placards with slogans such as: “Don’t touch my right to vote”, an AFP journalist saw.
“Thiam made the right choice. He’ll no longer have any problems with the law as party president,” activist Cynthia Koua told AFP.
Three other opposition figures have also been excluded from the presidential race, including former president Laurent Gbagbo due to court convictions.
“While we had the right to hope for inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections, it is clear that the unjustified removal of the PDCI candidate is part of the logic of eliminating the leaders of the main opposition parties to ensure tailor-made elections and a certain victory,” Thiam said Monday.
The authorities regularly reject claims of any political intervention in the electoral process, saying decisions are taken by an independent judiciary.
President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in power since 2011, has yet to say whether he plans to run again but has said he is eager to “continue serving my country”.
