Côte d’Ivoire opposition leader Tidjane Thiam quits party post
Côte d’Ivoire’s main opposition leader, Tidjane Thiam, announced that he is stepping down as president of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), just months after being barred from running in the upcoming October presidential election. However, he vowed to continue leading the fight to win the vote.
“In the interest of the party, I’ve decided to place my mandate as president in your hands, the activists,” Thiam said in a speech shared on social media. Despite his resignation, he made it clear he was not retreating from the political race. “This decision does not change the commitment I made in December 2023 to personally lead our party to victory in October 2025,” he added. “I know that after electing me in 2023, you will give me your trust again.”
Thiam was confirmed as a candidate for the 2025 elections in April. However, a court in Abidjan later ruled he was ineligible, arguing he had relinquished his Ivorian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987. Although Thiam renounced his French passport earlier this year to meet eligibility requirements—since presidential candidates cannot hold dual nationality—the court did not reverse its decision. He condemned the ruling as “an act of democratic vandalism, which will disenfranchise millions of voters.”
The former Credit Suisse CEO has faced a series of legal and political challenges since launching his candidacy. His election as party leader is also being contested in court by a PDCI member who disputes his nationality at the time of his appointment.
Thiam was born in Côte d’Ivoire but spent most of the past two decades abroad. Following a stint as a minister under former President Henri Konan Bédié, Thiam left the country after Bédié was ousted in a 1999 military coup. He went on to work for McKinsey & Company and later held executive roles at Aviva, Prudential, and finally Credit Suisse, where he served as CEO until his ousting in 2020.
He is also deeply tied to the region’s political history—Thiam is the great-nephew of Côte d’Ivoire’s founding president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, and his uncle, Habib Thiam, served twice as Senegal’s prime minister for a combined nine years.
Thiam is not the only opposition figure barred from the presidential race. Former President Laurent Gbagbo has also been excluded due to prior convictions. Meanwhile, 83-year-old incumbent Alassane Ouattara has yet to confirm whether he will seek another term.
