Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Ivory Coast’s main opposition leader Tidjane Thiam on Friday announced that he had given up French nationality in order to stand in a presidential election later this year.
Thiam, who heads the Democratic Party (PDCI), called the move “an important step” that had been long planned “which involved submitting my request for release from French nationality,” he said.
Doing so will make him “exclusively of Ivorian nationality at the time of the election” in October, he added, calling it “an administrative formality”.
Article 55 of the Ivorian Constitution stipulates that a presidential candidate must be “exclusively of Ivorian nationality born of a father or mother of Ivorian origin”.
Thiam, a 62-year-old former engineer, minister and bank chief, lived outside Ivory Coast for about 20 years before returning in 2022.
He became PDCI president in December 2023 but still has to be designated as the party’s official candidate. Jean-Louis Billon, a former commerce minister has also announced his candidacy for the party nomination.
Several other candidates are also vying to be in the running for the October 25 election.
Laurent Gbagbo, who was president from 2000 to 2011, has been nominated to run for the Ivory Coast African People’s Party (PPA-CI) but is barred because of a criminal conviction.
His ex-wife, Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, has announced her candidacy, while Pascal Affi N’Guessan, prime minister from 2000 to 2003, is standing for the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).
President Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, has not yet announced if he will try for a fourth term. He said last month he was “keen to continue serving” his country.
© Agence France-Presse
