Tensions have risen after the court ruled that opposition candidate Tijane Tiam lost his Iborian nationality when he became a French citizen and therefore was ineligible to run in the October presidential election.
Abidjan’s court struck Tiam from the election list on Tuesday days after the country’s leading opposition party, the Ivory Coast Democrats (PDCI).
The court said that Tiam was removed after losing his Iborian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987.
The decision cannot be appealed and controls him from the president’s standpoint.
Thiam’s lawyers tried to prove that he was born in dual citizenship. They said they presented a control document in support of the claim.
The voter role in Ivory Coast reaches 8.7 million amid opposition demands for revision
“We respect the judge’s decision, but we don’t share it,” Rodrig Dagge, one of Thiam’s lawyers, told RFI.
After the announcement on Tuesday, around 100 PDCI supporters gathered in front of the courthouse to sing the national anthem and shout “Titi for the President” using the Tiam nickname.
“Denied Justice”
In a statement on social media, Tiam wrote: “The government has just eliminated its most serious rivals through unfair and incomprehensible legal reasoning,” he added: “This is not normal and it’s not the image we want to project into our country.”
He added that the PDCI is united behind him. “There are no Plan B, no Plan C. We would like to go to this election, 99.5% of the time, and in a completely transparent and democratic way, with the PDCI being represented by the candidates freely selected.”
He insisted that he was still determined to run for the Republic’s presidency. “It’s me or there’s no one there,” Tiam said.
West African group Ecowas is 50 years old, struggling to unite
For Iborian political scientist and author Geoffroy-Julien Kouao, effectively removing Thiam from the upcoming presidential election is a mistake.
“This elimination compromises the presidential election on October 25th,” he told RFI on Wednesday morning. “Their main opponents, (former President) Laurent Gubagbo, Charles Bret-Gaude, Guillaume Solo and now Tijane Tiam, are not on the election list. As a result, they cannot run in this election.”
Kouao hopes the party will look for another candidate if Thiam cannot run. “Today, the PDCI has a real chance of gaining power for 15 years of RHDP (a gathering of Houpouëtists for democracy and peace).”
The Tiam camp says the move is an operation by the government to remove only trusted opposition candidates.
The country’s communications minister, Amadu Couribery, rejected these charges.
“We are building a state that is governed by the rule of law based on respect for the text. In this issue, each of these cases states the law. We don’t know where the government should intervene,” he said.
The final election list for the 2025 Ivory Coast elections will be released on June 20th.
Second Court Litigation
The PDCI announced that it would suspend its activities in Parliament in protest. The party also called for supporters to mobilize mobilization outside the country’s court on Thursday.
Sign up for the AllAfrica newsletter for free
Get the latest African news
success!
Almost finished…
You need to check your email address.
Follow the instructions in the email you sent to complete the process.
error!
There was a problem processing the submission. Please try again later.
Party member Valerie Japo challenges the right to lead the party of Tiam – for the same reason, he no longer has Koiboria citizenship.
French exit leaves Koiboria traders facing an uncertain future
“Everything in the country, every Koiborian, wherever they are, march in front of courts in their area and town,” Simon Doho, of the PDCI MP and party council group, said on Wednesday.
In Abidjan, the party called for a march from the party’s headquarters to the first trial court to Abidjan Court on Thursday morning, but police blocked access to the streets leading to the court.
(with newswire)
