2023-12-23 10:21:00
More than 6,000 delegates were called to vote on Friday in the capital Yamoussoukro to elect a new president for the PDCI. Facing his opponent, Jean-Marc Yacé, mayor of the Abidjan commune of Cocody, Tidjane Thiam won hands down the votes of the delegates present at the Extraordinary Congress which was to designate a successor to Henri Konan Bédié who died on August 1. The former president of Credit Suisse, and no less former Minister of Planning of Côte d’Ivoire in 1999 during the first coup d’état suffered by the country, received 96.5% of the votes against 3.2% in a vote where the participation rate reached 64%. He thus became the third elected president in the history of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire founded in 1946 by the father of the Ivorian nation Félix Houphouët-Boigny, also his great-uncle.
A turning point of rejuvenation for the party
After paying a “full tribute to his predecessors”, Tidjane Thiam considered that “the progress and outcome of the congress honored” the party. “It is with great humility that I accept the responsibility that you have decided to entrust to me,” he added. The vote was held without incident at the end of the day and the results were announced around midnight. Tidjane Thiam, former boss of Credit Suisse, was the favorite, with his international notoriety but also the support of a large majority of party deputies. Receiving a standing ovation upon his arrival in Yamoussoukro, he took many selfies throughout the day.
With the election of Tidjane Thiam, 61 years old – an age considered young to hold high political office in Côte d’Ivoire – the PDCI will rejuvenate its image. “Our new president will have to get us back up and running. He will have to give more responsibilities to the young people of the party,” declared the interim president of the party, Philippe Cowppli-Bony, aged 91. “We have been treated too much like a party of old people. It’s positive to see two young candidates, it’s nice,” said Ohoueu Assi, a delegate from Guiglo in the West.
The former leader of the PDCI, Henri Konan Bédié, president of Côte d’Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, died in August at the age of 89 and did not rule out running in the 2025 presidential election.
The 2025 presidential election in sight
The party, which aims to return to power in two years, also offered Friday evening to support Mr. Thiam with a view to an investiture for 2025. “2025 will be a crucial electoral year for our party, we must be ready . We must prepare for this deadline tomorrow morning,” Mr. Thiam said on Friday evening to the cheers of the audience. At the head of Côte d’Ivoire continuously from 1960 to 1999, the former single party has not accessed the supreme office for twenty-four years when a coup d’état chased Mr. Bédié from power, on Christmas Eve 1999. “If Thiam is our candidate, which I hope, we will have the ability to return to power. It can instill a new dynamic,” said Cyprien Koffi, a delegate from San Pedro (southwest).
Once an ally of Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011, the PDCI regained its place in the opposition in 2018 and boycotted the last presidential election.
The holding of this congress was uncertain throughout the week, after a postponement last Saturday by the Ivorian justice system, seized by two activists who denounced irregularities in the list of congress participants. The decision notably pointed to the risks of “disturbing public order” to justify this postponement and the police were deployed on Saturday morning to prevent access to the congress venue. While the PDCI had rescheduled the congress for Friday in Yamoussoukro, the same two activists took legal action again, before finally withdrawing their complaint on Thursday evening.
#Tidjane #Thiam #main #opposition #party