Former international banker and Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam has officially declared his candidacy for Côte d’Ivoire’s upcoming presidential election,marking a dramatic return to national politics after more than two decades abroad.
The 62-year-old former elite banker was confirmed as the presidential candidate for the opposition Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI),winning 99.5% of the vote in an uncontested race. A former planning minister in the 1990s,Thiam left Ivorian politics after a 1999 coup and went on to build a global business career,leading major firms such as Aviva,Prudential and Credit Suisse. To meet eligibility requirements,Thiam even relinquished his French citizenship,a move seen as a signal of his commitment to the Ivorian electorate. However,political analysts note that his long absence from the country may pose challenges. Thiam was not “well known to Ivorians,” political scientist Geoffroy Kouao noted.
Still,Thiam’s name carries weight. He is the great-nephew of Côte d’Ivoire’s founding president,Félix Houphouët-Boigny,and is seen as a modern,technocratic alternative in a political landscape dominated by aging figures. The current 83-year-old president Alassane Ouattara has yet to confirm whether he will seek a controversial fourth term.
According to sources close to Thiam,the first black executive to head a large European bank was reportedly nervous about the rough-and-tumble politics in Côte d’Ivoire,where personal threats to candidates are common. Whatever the outcome of his presidential bid,experts say that Thiam’s candidacy may energize a fractured opposition and reshape the race in a country long plagued by political instability and post-electoral violence.
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