2025 Presidential Election In Ivory Coast:

Last Week, TIDJANE THIAM, Presidential Candidate Of The Leading Opposition Party, PDCI, Was Disqualified By A Controversial Court Ruling On Nationality Issue

 In the face of rising tension, the Ministry of Justice on Monday, April 28, 2025 organized a press conference to try to justify the court ruling

 But THIAM’s lawyers swiftly rubbished Gov’t’s arguments, adding that even the judge that ruled on the matter last week, was not competent

PDCI has vowed that Tidjane Thiam, who is also the party’s National President, must be the party’s presidential candidate

 There was a public outcry in Ivory Coast on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, when the presidential candidate of PDCI for the October 2025 presidential election, 63 year old TIDJANE THIAM, who is also the National President of the party, was disqualified from running in the election, by a rather controversial court decision. The court in Abidjan declared that Thiam has double nationality, and ordered that his name be deleted from the voters’ register by the Electoral Commission. Of course if somebody’s name is not on the voters’ register, the person cannot be a presidential candidate in Ivory Coast.

 Worthy of note, that PDCI is the leading opposition party in Ivory Coast.  Tidjane Thiam who as aforementioned is the National President of PDCI, was in mid- April designated to be the flag bearer of the party at the 2025 presidential election. As the presidential candidate of the leading opposition party, and considering his capacity as well, Tidjane Thiam was immediately considered across Ivory Coast as the leading opposition candidate at the 2025 presidential election. But then on April 22, the court released a bombshell.
It should however be noted that Tidjane Thiam, who was born in 1962 in Ivory Coast, took a French nationality in 1987. His father also had French nationality. The Constitution of Ivory Coast clearly states that if an Ivorian citizen takes another nationality, he automatically loses his or her Ivorian nationality.

Tidjane Thiam Had Denounced His French Nationality

However in March 2025, Tidjane Thiam officially denounced his French nationality.  So Thiam regained his full Ivorian nationality, before his designation mid last month as the presidential candidate of PDCI.

But then to the embarrassment of Tidjane Thiam and PDCI, the court in the controversial ruling on April 22, said that Thiam registered his name in Ivory Coast’s voters’ register in 2022, and that by then he still had French nationality. The judge argued that he cannot thus be a presidential candidate in Ivory Coast.

But the PDCI and Thaim’s lawyers could not see the link between Thiam’s registration on the voters’ list in 2022 when he still had French nationality, and the disqualification of his candidacy for the 2025 presidential election. They asserted that Tidjane Thiam was not a presidential candidate by 2022. Rather, they argued that the indisputable fact is that by the time Tidjane Thiam was designated as the presidential candidate of PDCI, he no longer had French or  double nationality.

An Appeal Cannot be Filed Against The Controversial Court Decision

However the judge held on to his controversial position, and ruled that the Electoral Commission should delete the name of Tidjane Thiam, from the voters’ register.  To delete Thiam’s name from the voters’ register, automatically disqualifies him from participating in the presidential election. It is the general principle that one cannot normally be a candidate in an election, if he is not a voter in that election.

Another unfortunate thing for the case of the designated presidential candidate of PD CI, Tidjane   Thiam and his lawyers, is that they cannot file an appeal against the controversial court ruling of April 22, to a higher court.  The court declared on that April 22, that an appeal cannot be filed against the court ruling.

 Spontaneous Protest Demonstration In Abidjan

Meanwhile, the next day, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, hundreds of militants of PDCI that turned out at the party’s headquarters in Abidjan, to find out what was happening, embarked on a spontaneous protest demonstration. The protest was against the controversial court decision to disqualify their party’s candidate for the October 2025 presidential election, Tidjane Thiam. They denounced the decision as unacceptable, and found President Ouattara culpable of what had happened, as they unanimously considered the court ruling of April 22 to be political.

Opposition Sees President Ouattara Behind The Court Ruling

Meanwhile, immediately news of the demonstration by irate militants of PDCI reached the Ivorian Parliament which was in a full session, the PDCI Parliamentary Group leader led his colleagues out. They abandoned the session, and rushed to join the demonstration. The PDCI Parliamentary Group leader who addressed the demonstrators, minced no words that President Alassane Ouattara, was behind the controversial court decision to disqualify their candidate for the 2025 presidential election. The PDCI Parliamentary Group leader who termed President Ouattara a dictator, insisted that Tidjane Thiam is, and will remain, the only candidate of PDCI for the 2025 presidential election, as the party will not replace him as President Ouattara seemingly wants.

The National President of PDCI, Tidjane Thiam, who is also the party’s designated candidate for the 2025 presidential election, also addressed the demonstrators. He was firm that despite the controversial court decision against his candidature, he remains the only designated PDCI presidential candidate. He was firm as well that there will be no other PDCI candidate for the 2025 presidential election, apart from him.  Like other officials of PDCI, Thiam also mince no words that President Ouattara was behind the controversial court ruling of April 22.

Ministry of Justice Organizes Press Conference. But – —

In the face of the rising tension in Ivory Coast, over the controversial disqualifications of the candidacies of major presidential candidates of the opposition for the 2025 presidential elections, the Ministry of Justice organized a press conference in Abidjan on Monday, April 28, 2025, with focus on the case of the PDCI candidate, Tidjane Thiam.

Interestingly enough, lawyers of Tidjane Thiam and PDCI Party, jointly showed up at the press conference in their robes, and transformed the press conference into a legal battle between lawyers of Thiam and PDCI on one side, and Government lawyers on the other side.

The Big Disagreement

The government lawyers and Tidjane Thiam’s lawyers agreed on the fact that Thiam took French nationality in 1987, and that he denounced his French nationality in the month of March 2025. But the two sides totally disagreed on the rightness or correctness of the decision that was taken by the judge on April 22, 2025, ordering the Electoral Commission to delete Tidjane Thiam’s name from Ivory Coast’s electoral register, which automatically meant disqualification from participating in the 2025 presidential election.

The government lawyers supported the argument that the judge made in ruling on the matter on April 22, that Thiam’s was  still a French citizen when he registered in Ivory Coast’s electoral Register in 2022, and so it should be deleted, and Thiam thus disqualified from participating in the 2025 presidential election. But Thiam’s lawyers rubbished the argument, pointing out that Thiam was not a presidential candidate by the time he registered on the voters’ list in 2022. Rather the lawyers argued that what matters ,is the fact  that by the time PDCI mid last month, chose or designated Tidjane Thiam to be the party’s candidate at the 2025 presidential election, he had already denounced his French nationality and so had once more become 100 % Ivorian citizen.

Thiam’s lawyers also insisted that the judge who passed the controversial judgment or ruling on April 22, 2025, was not competent to handle such a matter. They explained that according to the Ivorian Law, such a matter is supposed to be handled by the Attorney General.  It should be recalled that the judge ruled that an appeal cannot be filed against the April 22 ruling.

Whatever the case, the, controversy surrounding the disqualification of the candidacy of the presidential candidate of PDCI, Tidjane Thiam, is far from over. PDCI officials as well as  Thiam with his lawyers, have vowed that the matter will only be over when the court will annul the controversial court ruling, that was made against Thiam’s candidacy for the presidential election, on April 22.