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The decision, which cannot be appealed, could end the Tidjane Thiam’s ambition to run for president [Getty Images]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Ivory Coast’s main opposition leader has been removed from the electoral roll by the judiciary which says he is ineligible to run in October’s presidential election.<\/p>\n
Tidjane Thiam renounced his French citizenship in order to run for president, but a court argued on Thursday that the former Credit Suisse boss forfeited his Ivory Coast nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987.<\/p>\n
Thiam said the court’s decision was an “act of democratic vandalism, which will disenfranchise millions of voters”.<\/p>\n
His disqualification comes just a week after he was confirmed as the only contender for the centre-right Democratic Party – the PDCI.<\/p>\n
Last week Thiam was nominated as the PDCI’s candidate<\/a> after winning 5,321 votes out of 5,348 cast.<\/p>\n The governing RHDP party has not yet announced its candidate, but the current president, 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara<\/a>, is likely to run for what would be a fourth term in office.<\/p>\n Three other prominent figures, including former President Laurent Gbagbo<\/a>, have been barred from running.<\/p>\n Reacting to the ruling. Thiam said: “It’s no surprise that this court ruling comes as our support among voters continues to grow.<\/p>\n “After 15 years in power, RHDP leaders are running scared. They want to monopolise power rather than face the judgement of the electorate.”<\/p>\n After becoming the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France’s prestigious Polytechnique engineering school, he returned to Ivory Coast and took up politics.<\/p>\n In 1998, aged 36, he became planning minister before the PDCI was ousted from power in a coup the following year.<\/p>\n He then moved abroad and pursued a largely successful business career.<\/p>\n Thiam has held senior positions in leading international businesses like Aviva, Prudential and Credit Suisse, though he quit from the latter in 2020 following a spying scandal<\/a> – although he has been cleared of any involvement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n