2023-12-16 16:11:26
The congress of the country’s main opposition party, the PDCI, which was to elect its new leader on Saturday, saw its congress suspended at the last moment by the Ivorian justice system. The judge declared admissible the complaint of two activists who denounced irregularities on the list of congress participants called to choose between the Ivorian-French banker Tidjane Thiam and the mayor of the Abidjan commune of Cocody, Jean-Marc Yacé, to take the head of the left.
Published on :
3 mn
Ivorian justice suspended at the last minute the congress of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI), the country’s main opposition party, in power from 1960 to 1999, which was to elect its new leader on Saturday.
Justice ordered “the suspension and postponement of the PDCI congress scheduled for Saturday, December 16, 2023,” according to an order from the summary judge of the Abidjan court, dated Friday and consulted by AFP.
The former leader of the party, Henri Konan Bédié, president of Côte d’Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, died in August at the age of 89 and did not rule out running for the next presidential election in 2025.
The judge declared admissible the complaint of two activists who denounced irregularities on the list of congress participants called to choose on Saturday between the Ivorian-French banker Tidjane Thiam and the mayor of the Abidjan commune of Cocody, Jean-Marc Yacé, to lead the PDCI .
The decision also points to the risks of “disturbing public order” to justify the postponement of the congress.
“The PDCI expresses its great indignation and condemns with the utmost energy these practices from another time which undermine democracy and freedoms,” declared party spokesperson Soumaïla Bredoumy on Saturday afternoon, calling on the activists “not to give in to provocation”.
Police cordon
A large police cordon was deployed on Saturday morning in front of the party headquarters in Abidjan, preventing dozens of delegates from all over the country from entering. Police officers were also deployed around the Ivoire hotel where everything had been prepared to host the congress.
In front of the HQ, the two candidates in turn called on the activists in the morning to remain calm.
A message heard by the activists who, massed behind the police cordon, however deplored this last minute cancellation of the congress.
“We came to keep our party alive. We no longer have the right to choose our own president? It’s incomprehensible” regretted Ramata Gnamien.
“Two activists are blocking the election of a political party. We are in disarray, we are outside, in the street in front of our own house and we cannot return,” adds, bitterly, Marie-Lise N’ Zi, from Dimbokro, in the center of the country.
Opacity
This week, several PDCI executives such as Jean-Louis Billon and Thierry Tanoh criticized the opacity of the electoral process.
A third candidate, Maurice Kacou Guikahue, announced his withdrawal at the beginning of the week, also deploring a lack of transparency.
With this congress, the PDCI hoped to rejuvenate its image by electing a president in his sixties – Tidjane Thiam and Jean-Marc Yacé are respectively 61 and 62 years old – which is considered young to exercise high political functions in Côte d’Ivoire.
With the support of around fifty deputies out of the 63 that the party has in the National Assembly (255 seats), Tidjane Thiam, former general director of Credit Suisse, is the favorite to become the new leader of the opposition and prepare for 2025.
“We can change the formula, we can change the date, I will be a candidate,” insisted Tidjane Thiam on Saturday.
The former single party, that of the father of independence Félix Houphouët Boigny, has not held the highest office since 1999. A coup d’état then ousted Henri Konan Bédié from power.
Once allied with Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011, the PDCI regained its place in the opposition in 2018 and boycotted the last presidential election.
“There must be as little damage as possible. At the end of the elections we must be united to position ourselves for 2025. We are at a crossroads,” hoped a party executive, before the postponement.
With AFP
1702762317
#Ivory #Coast #justice #suspends #congress #main #opposition #party