Ex-Credit Suisse chief takes helm of Ivory Coast opposition party
The Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) has elected the former head of Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, as its new chairman on Friday. As the new leader of the opposition party, Thiam is making preparations for the 2025 presidential elections.
The PDCI is considered the largest opposition party in the country. Thiam received 96.5% of the vote, the party announced. His opponent Jean-Marc Yacé, the mayor of the Cocody district in the southern city of Abidjan, received 3.2% of the vote.
“It is with great humility that I accept the responsibility,” said Thiam after paying tribute to his predecessors. Thiam is the third elected chairman in the history of the PDCI, which was founded in 1946. Before him, Ivory Coast’s first president Félix Houphouët Boigny and another former head of state, Henri Konan Bédié, were at the helm of the party. Bédié died last August.
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Thiam was considered the favorite as he is internationally known and supported by a large majority of party members. At 61, he is considered young for high political office in the Ivory Coast. His election is expected to rejuvenate the PDCI’s image.
“Our new chairman must get us back on track,” said the 91-year-old interim chairman, Philippe Cowppli-Bony. Thiam should give young party members more responsibility.
The party must now prepare for the decisive election year in 2025, Thiam told the congress. The PDCI has not been at the helm of the Ivory Coast since 1999. The party, which wants to return to power in two years, offered Thiam its support for a possible candidacy on Friday evening.
The PDCI was previously allied with the current president of Côte d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara. The party has been in opposition since 2018. It boycotted the last presidential elections. Thiam could trigger a new dynamic, said one delegate.
The Ivorian-French manager Thiam was head of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse from 2015 to 2020 and lived in Switzerland. He resigned following a spying scandal, in which private detectives were hired to observe departing executives.
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