Tensions are rising in Côte d'Ivoire after a court ruled that opposition candidate Tidjane Thiam is not eligible to run in October’s presidential election because he lost his Ivorian nationality when he became a French citizen.
An Abidjan court struck Thiam off the electoral list on Tuesday, just days after the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the main opposition party in the country, nominated him as its candidate for the 25 October election.
The court said Thiam had been removed because he had lost his Ivorian nationality when acquiring French citizenship in 1987.
The decision cannot be appealed and rules him out of standing for president.
Thiam's lawyers attempted to prove that he was born with dual nationality and that this provision of the Nationality Code therefore does not apply to him. They said they have presented administrative documents supporting this claim.
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"We respect the judge's decision, but we do not share it," Rodrigue Dadjé, one of Thiam's lawyers, told RFI.
Around 100 PDCI supporters gathered in front of the court after the announcement on Tuesday, singing the national anthem and shouting "Titi for president" – using Thiam's nickname.
'Denial of justice'
In a statement on social media, Thiam wrote: "The government has just eliminated its most serious rival through unfair and incomprehensible legal reasoning." He added: "This is not normal and it is not the image I want our country to project."
He added that the PDCI is united behind him. "There will be no Plan B, no Plan C. We want to go to this election represented by the candidate that the PDCI freely chose, 99.5 percent of the time, and in a completely transparent and democratic manner."
He maintained that he was still determined to run for the presidency of the Republic. "It's me or no one," Thiam said, adding he intended to take his case to the court of the West African regional bloc, Ecowas.
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For Geoffroy-Julien Kouao, an Ivorian political scientist and writer, the de facto elimination of Thiam from the upcoming presidential election is a mistake.
"This elimination compromises the presidential election on 25 October," he told RFI on Wednesday morning. "The main opponents, [former president] Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Blé Goudé, Guillaume Soro, and now Tidjane Thiam are not on the electoral list. Consequently, they will not be able to run in this election."
Kouao hopes the party will look for another candidate if Thiam is unable to run, "because today the PDCI, after 15 years of RHDP [Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace] governance, has a real chance of gaining power".
Thiam's camp says the move is a manoeuvre by the government to eliminate the only credible opposition candidate.
The country's minister of communications, Amadou Coulibaly, rejected these accusations.
"We are building a state governed by the rule of law, based on respect for the texts. In this matter, the law has been stated in each of these cases. I don't see where the government should intervene," he said.
The final electoral list for the Côte d'Ivoire 2025 elections will be published on 20 June.
A second court case
The PDCI has announced it will suspend its activity in parliament in protest. The party also called for supporters to mobilise outside the country's courts on Thursday, when Thiam will be defending himself against a separate complaint.
Party member Valérie Yapo is contesting Thiam's right to lead the party – on the same grounds, that he no longer has Ivorian citizenship.
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"All over the country, every Ivorian, wherever they may be, will march in front of the courthouse in their region or town," PDCI MP and head of the party's parliamentary group Simon Doho said on Wednesday.
In Abidjan, the party called for a march on Thursday morning from the party's headquarters to the Abidjan Court of First Instance, but police blocked access to the streets leading to the court, with Ivorian authorities warning that "disorder will not be tolerated".
(with newswires)
