Presidency of the PDCI-RDA: Akossi Bendjo withdraws in favor of Tidjane Thiam

The candidate for the presidency of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI-RDA), Noël Akossi Bendjo, vice-president of the party, announced on Sunday his withdrawal from the race in favor of candidate Tidjane Thiam, former Minister of Planning and Development.

It was through a press release read jointly by the deputy Jean-Michel Amankou, his campaign director and the deputy mayor of Port-Bouët, Dr Emmou Sylvestre, campaign director of Tidjane Thiam that the information was brought to the activists of the PDCI and to the Ivorians. 

The two candidates, according to their staff, decided to unite “their efforts and skills” to support the candidacy of Minister Tidjane Thiam in the election of the party president during the 8th extraordinary congress scheduled for December 16, 2023.

According to Jean-Michel Amankou, the rallying of his principal to Mr. Thiam responds to the desire to maintain “unity and cohesion” for the “reconquest” of state power lost in 1999 following a coup of state. 

Four candidates, Maurice Kakou Guikahué, Tidjane Thiam, Jean-Marc Yacé and Koumoué Koffi Moïse, are now in the running to succeed Henri Konan Bédié, president of the party, who died on August 1, 2023.

Party authorities called for a consensus around a single candidacy. According to a press release from Professor Cowpli-Bony, interim president, negotiations were “continuing” again on Sunday to reach a consensual candidacy.