2023-12-17 20:36:00
This is a significant fact, both judicial and political, whose shockwave, still undetermined, will have to be monitored in Ivory Coast where maneuvers have begun in the run-up to the presidential election of October 2025. This judgment of court of first instance of Abidjan has in fact thwarted the will of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA) to choose, at its 8th Extraordinary Congress scheduled for this Saturday, December 16, between Tidjane Thiam, ex- Minister of Planning and Development but also former president of Credit Suisse, and Jean-Marc Yacé, mayor of Cocody, to designate the successor at the head of the party of President Henri Konan Bédié, who died on August 1.
The request of two activists…
At the origin of this last minute suspension, there was a request from two activists from the PDCI-RDA itself. One, Christophe Blesson, 60, is a freight forwarder, member of the Political Bureau and secretary general of the Yopougon Niangon Saint-Pierre section, a commune west of Abidjan. The other, Mathieu Ourah Afroumou, 43, is an economic operator, section general secretary and national president of the Rally for Victory movement of the PDCI-RDA.
Statutory members of the congress, the two applicants criticize the electoral committee of the party in charge of organizing the congress for the non-publication of the list, on the one hand, of the congress participants, and on the other hand, of the selected candidates. More precisely, they argue, “the electoral committee did not produce any document that could attest to the eligibility of the selected candidates….”. A way of denouncing, “an opacity of the process” which could open the door to “troubles” if the congress was kept on the previously planned date. And to ask the courts to “suspend” the ongoing process and “postpone” the meetings.
… deemed admissible for fear of disturbing public order
The request thus brought to the assessment of the court of first instance of Abidjan was not only declared admissible but it found in judge Aminata Touré a magistrate sensitive to its arguments. For her, “the irregularities denounced” can effectively “compromise the election of the new president of the PDCI” or even “generate disturbances to public order”. In witness whereof, the court ordered the “suspension” and “postponement” sine die of the congress.
Enough to create, due to its unforeseen and exceptional nature, confusion on Saturday at daybreak among the 6,000 delegates, some of whom, from inside the country, had already reached Abidjan and even the PDCI headquarters in Cocody to collect their badges. access as well as congress documents. Their surprise was all the greater as the party headquarters was already under guard by security forces deployed to prevent any entry. The scenario was the same around the hotel complex planned to house the congress.
A speed in the execution of the judgment sufficiently exceptional to puzzle more than one.
Calls for calm from candidates Thiam and Yacé
Faced with this situation, the candidates in the running both issued press releases aimed at PDCI-RDA activists. Tidjane Thiam did so in the middle of the day calling on them to “calm” and “not to travel” to the congress venue.
Jean-Marc Yacé, for his part, emphasized the fact that he shared their “dismay” and called on them to “appeasement and restraint”. To mark his annoyance, he indicated that they were “faced with the regrettable obstacle of inaccessibility” to the congress site and the party house. Saturday being a non-working day, the notification had not yet reached the Party Council which therefore decided to wait for it before making a decision.
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