Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam elected to lead Ivory Coast opposition

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Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam elected to lead Ivory Coast opposition

10:30 CAT | 26 Dec 2023

Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, the newly-elected president of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), gestures after his election during the 8th extraordinary congress of the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI-RDA) at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Foundation for Peace Research in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast on December 23, 2023. [Photo: Sia Kambou/AFP]

Ivorian-French banker Tidjane Thiam was Friday elected leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast, a victory which puts him in position to contest the next presidential election in 2025.

Thiam, a former boss of banking giant Credit Suisse, won very comfortably with 96.5 percent of the vote against 3.2 percent for his rival Jean-Marc Yace, the mayor of a commune in the economic hub Abidjan, according to the results announced late Friday.

“It is with great humility that I accept the responsibility that you have decided to entrust to me,” Thiam said.

More than 6,000 delegates took part in the vote at a party congress in the capital Yamoussoukro.

Thiam was the favourite and had the support of a large majority of the party’s lawmakers.

With this election, the Democratic Party (PDCI) hopes to rejuvenate its image following the death of its former leader Henri Konan Bedie, in early August at the age of 89.

It was once the sole legal party in Ivory Coast and ruled for decades following the country’s 1960 independence from France, but lost power after a 1999 coup.

At 61, Thiam is a relatively young top political figure in the West African nation and is returning after more than 20 years abroad.

“Our new president will have to put us back in working order. He will have to give more responsibilities to the young people of the party,” said interim party president Philippe Cowppli-Bony, 91.

Source: AFP