The Ivorian government, through its spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly, addressed the recent removal of Tidjane Thiam, president of the opposition PDCI party, from the electoral roll by the courts.
The government’s reaction came on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, following a Cabinet meeting.
Spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly stated the government’s position clearly: “The judge rendered a decision, and we respect it. This decision is based on the application of Article 48 (of the Ivorian Nationality Code), which is not the first time it has been applied in our country.”
Coulibaly drew a parallel with a previous case, stating, “In 2011, we had the case that the press called the Tiote jurisprudence. No one in our country can question the legal expertise of Professor Francis Wodie in terms of law, much less in terms of constitutional law.” He referred to the late Francis Wodie, the then President of the Constitutional Council, who “issued this decree, and everyone knows who this eminent professor was in our country. So, it’s a text that has already been applied once, and it’s being applied again today. Therefore, we respect these decisions.”
Emphasizing the importance of adhering to the country’s legal framework, Coulibaly added, “I simply want to invite everyone to respect the texts of our country, and that’s how we build a rule of law, by complying with court decisions, by complying with the texts that allow this country to function properly.”
The government spokesperson further elaborated on the context, saying, “We are building a rule of law; when you look at where our country has come from, all the regular violations of our texts that we have experienced since 1995, it is important to return to the fundamentals of the rule of law.”
Coulibaly firmly denied any governmental interference in the electoral process. “In this matter, the law has been stated in each of these cases. We have two bodies that manage electoral matters. I don’t see where the government is intervening, especially since, when it comes to the Electoral Commission, all decisions are made collectively,” he emphasized.
Dismissing accusations of state manipulation, Coulibaly reassured that “the President of the Republic is succeeding in building the rule of law he wants our country to become: a country that respects its texts, its Constitution, and the court decisions that are made.”
Drawing an international comparison, Coulibaly observed, “I don’t want to make a comparison, but we recently saw that the candidate of a party in France, a party that reached the second round three times” and “which achieved a significant score in the recent legislative elections, was declared ineligible.” He concluded, “But I don’t think the French citizens saw the hand of the state behind this decision. Democracy is one. We cannot have a democracy that is good for developed countries and another one with variable geometry, which we would like countries on the (African) continent to experience.”
The PDCI, in response to the court’s decision, has called for a peaceful march of its activists to the court this Thursday, April 24, 2025, to protest the removal of their leader from the electoral list, a verdict they have labeled as “political” aimed at excluding a prominent candidate.
The Abidjan Court of First Instance delivered its ruling on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, ordering the removal of PDCI President Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, from the electoral roll. The court’s decision was based on the grounds that Thiam had lost his Ivorian nationality due to acquiring French nationality in 1987. The court noted that Thiam had registered on the electoral list in 2022 despite this prior loss of nationality, citing Article 48 of the Ivorian Nationality Code of 1961, which stipulates that “any adult Ivorian who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality, or who declares recognition of such nationality, loses his or her Ivorian nationality.”
While Tidjane Thiam has since relinquished his French nationality, with the relinquishment taking effect on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, he now faces the separate legal process of reacquiring Ivorian nationality, a prerequisite for eligibility to contest the presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire. The government’s strong defense of the court’s decision signals a firm stance on the application of the nationality law in the lead-up to the elections.
AP/Sf/fss/abj/APA