The Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) should finally emerge from the crisis. On Saturday December 16, everything was ready for the former Ivorian Unity Party, which has become the main opposition force to President Alassane Ouattara, to elect a new leader at its 8th Congress. A room was reserved at the Ivoire Hotel in Abidjan, the most prestigious hotel in the country. The buses that were supposed to transport hundreds of activists from all over the country had made their way to the economic capital. In recent days, even executive rivalries appeared more muted.
Also read: Ivory Coast: Justice suspends the congress of the largest opposition party at the last minute
But while there were only two candidates left to succeed Henri Konan Bédié, who died on August 1 – the mayor of Cocody, Jean-Marc Yacé, and the former general manager of Crédit Suisse and grand-nephew of former Ivorian president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Tidjane Thiam – The courts ordered “the suspension and postponement of the Congress” a few hours before its opening, citing the risk of “disturbing public order”.
According to the courts, a summary summons was sent to the PDCI headquarters on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Although the party leadership claims they never received it, rumors of a cancellation began circulating in the evening, confirmed by a leak at 2 a.m. when police were ordered to deploy near the party headquarters and at the convention venue.
“puppets”
According to the PDCI leadership, almost 6,300 delegates were blocked by a security system of several hundred gendarmes around the Ivoire Hotel and the PDCI house a few streets away. Throughout the morning, Jean-Marc Yacé and Tidjane Thiam intensified their calls for calm in front of the activists, who were eventually sent home at the party's expense. “We are not in a democratic country,” says a high-ranking party official. What happened is internally the fault of some of us who were manipulated by those in power. »
This criticism is directed against two men: Christophe Blesson and Mathieu Ourah Afroumou, activists of the PDCI section of Yopougon. According to the court decision by Aminata Touré, President of the Court of First Instance of Abidjan, MM. Blesson and Afroumou had filed a complaint pointing out that the list of congress participants published by the PDCI “does not contain the names of numerous congress participants who, nevertheless, meet all the legal requirements to attend the Congress,” including the name of Mr. Blesson himself.
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“They weren't up to date with their contributions, so they weren't on the list,” explains the party member quoted above. But they are just puppets and we know who is behind them. » No manager dares to speak the name Maurice Kakou Guikahué. His campaign manager Isak Adi also announced that he was “neither directly nor remotely involved in this situation.”
But PDCI's social media highlights the vice president of education. His name and photo are in circulation, as are those of the two complainants, accompanied by the image of an apple nibbled by a worm or a portrait of the founder of the PDCI, former president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who shows a distressed expression.
Maurice Guikahué's Revenge?
The party's historic executive secretary, Maurice Kakou Guikahué, 72, had run for the presidency of the PDCI before his candidacy was declared invalid by the electoral committee due to the judicial review process that had targeted him since the violence erupted during the post-election crisis 2020. A claim disputed by the party leadership.
The control measure was lifted last week, which has already given rise to allegations of government collusion. But Maurice Guikahué finally announced on Monday that he would “take note of the unjustified exclusion” of his candidacy while ensuring that he would not take legal action against his party.
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The fact is that his name is actually mentioned in Aminata Touré's court decision. While he “fulfilled all the conditions,” the order states in the part dedicated to presenting the dispute, Maurice Guikahué “was denied the right to be a candidate on the grounds that he was released following his provisional release following non-compliance under “-criminal acts”.
Also read: The fight to succeed Henri Konan Bédié at the head of the PDCI is preparing in Ivory Coast
Activists also did not fail to point out that the plaintiffs' lawyer, Me Alphonse Van, was the associate of another PDCI lawyer, Me Emile Suy Bi, who was very close to Maurice Guikahué. Not to mention that on December 7, Christophe Blesson had already protested against the ouster of Mr. Guikahué and, on behalf of the PDCI congressmen of Yopougon, denounced “a betrayal aimed at imposing a select personality at the top of the party. “by the interim management,” says Tidjane Thiam.
The congress has been postponed to an indefinite date
In the wake of the latter, who started this election as the arch favorite, we denounce “a completely disproportionate decision”. “Since when can two activists cancel an entire conference? », pretends to ask a relative. Some even denounce the authorities' conspiracy to throw obstacles at Tidjane Thiam, who has already announced his intention to run in the 2025 presidential election, in order to waste time in his strategy to seize power.
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A political office was urgently convened to decide on the new date of the congress. According to party texts, the transition period envisaged by Alphonse Cowppli-Bony should end before February 2nd. But major political events are expected to be postponed during the Africa Cup of Nations, which will take place from January 13 to February 11, 2024. As a result, the holding of the extraordinary congress of the PDCI is postponed. Date on which Thierry Tanoh and Jean-Louis Billon, who were unable to submit their candidacy in November and denounced the “lack of transparency” of the ballot in a joint statement on December 12, reached the 10th seniority in office, which is for the Politics is required to claim the chairmanship of the party. And will be able to add two new camps to this war of succession.