After fifteen years of reflection, Jean-Louis Billon launches the presidential race

The announcement did not surprise anyone, since the interested party had not hidden his political ambitions for more than fifteen years. On Friday, October 25, Jean-Louis Billon, 59, officially declared himself a candidate for the 2025 presidential election from his stronghold of Dabakala, in the northeast of the country. “I’m running to win, he said in front of an assembly of followers. In 2025, Ivory Coast will meet its destiny and I will be there. »

The ballot that is announced as “ decisive turning point “He recalled, his party, the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI-RDA, centre-right), must be “ until this historic meeting ». Jean-Louis Billon must still manage to convince the activists of the first opposition party in the National Assembly to elect him as their candidate, during a party convention whose date has not yet been announced and where he will have to face Tidjane Thiam.

A duel in which Thiam, president of the PDCI, elected on December 22, 2023, is the favorite for the moment, after a vote in which Jean-Louis Billon had not presented his candidacy. The extraordinary congress held in Yamoussoukro then adopted a resolution designating Tidjane Thiam as “ the PDCI-RDA candidate at the nomination convention » for the next presidential elections.

Successful businessman

“ Certain executives will inevitably encourage Jean-Louis Billon, it is the political sphere, acknowledges a PDCI executive. There are always frustrations, people who were hoping to be nominated, others who don’t like Tidjane Thiam… So, obviously, she has late-night visitors. But for the moment, no leader has spoken out for him. And I think the challenges of 2025 will mean that the majority will stay with Tidjane Thiam. »

Jean-Louis Billon, who maintains fairly good relations with President Alassane Ouattara and with his opponent Laurent Gbagbo, whom he even met at the airport upon his return to the country in 2021, is a successful businessman. Former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2002 to 2012, from 2001 to 2012 he directed the first private group in the country, the agroindustrial Sifca, specialized in oilseeds, sugar and rubber, inherited from his father and of which he remained president. of the board of directors.

He has also assumed local elective functions since his election in 2001, without label, to the Dabakala city council, which he held until his accession to the presidency of the Hambol regional council in 2013. Appointed Minister of Trade under Alassane Ouattara in 2012, he held this position for five years before being removed from the government in 2017, during a ministerial reshuffle.

Jean-Louis Billon then approached the management of the PDCI, of which he became deputy spokesperson. It defends a break with the presidential side, while the Rally of Republicans (RDR), the party of President Alassane Ouattara, is trying, on the contrary, to form a unified party, the Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP). .

Withdrawal from party affairs

The government therefore suspended him in 2017 from his position as president of the Hambol regional council, where he had been elected under the RDR banner, as reported. young africa. Contacted by phone by the worldresponds to those who question his loyalty that “ we were in a political alliance “. “I accepted the alliance, not the unified party, remember. And I am the first to come forward so that we do not join the RHDP. ».

Other critical voices within the PDCI also criticize it for its absenteeism since the election of Tidjane Thiam. Invisible during the transfer of power in January, Jean-Louis Billon also did not appear at the presentation of the new PDCI organizational chart and refused to be re-elected to the new executive secretary, although he remained a senior representative of the party in Hambol. A withdrawal that allows him free rein to criticize the new governance of the party.

“ I have no problem with Tidjane Thiam.assures, although some of us considered that he did not meet the conditions to be elected. But we manage. » He also believes that “His lack of experience in a match management team is felt. (…) This is perhaps the longest period the party has known without holding political office.. The congress has not been rescheduled, I’m not even talking about the convention…”

TO “inertia” which he had already denounced in an interview with the Ivorian newspaper Brotherhood Morningannoying the new management team a little more. “ What inertia? asks a senior party official, close to the new president. The PDCI has never been so active or so present on the ground as since Tidjane Thiam took the reins. This is what counts, much more than a political position that no text stipulates must take place immediately after the transfer of office. »

“Modernize this party”

The truth is that Jean-Louis Billon claims to have been nicknamed by the former head of state (from 1993 to 1999) Henri Konan Bédié, president of the PDCI until his death on August 1, 2023. “ Since 2018, it was scheduled for the 2020 presidential election, he says. It was Henri Konan Bédié who asked me at that moment to withdraw so he could face Alassane Ouattara himself. [vainqueur avec 95,31 % des voix d’un scrutin boycotté par l’opposition]. I gave him the place, but just after this election I reaffirmed my candidacy for 2025. »

If he did not present his candidacy for the leadership of the PDCI in December, it is not because he has not reached ten years of seniority in political office, he assures, but because he wants to distinguish the presidency of the party from the candidacy. for the supreme office. “A bit like the American parties, whose presidents are almost never candidatescompares Jean-Louis Billon. They have had their political experiences in the past and they lead the party with their experience. This is something new that we wanted to present at the next congress, to modernize this party that, unfortunately, still has old reflexes. »

According to him, this strategy would allow “ best match management » dividing the responsibilities between two men, but would have to reach an agreement with Tidjane Thiam, if he manages to obtain the nomination at the party convention.

And in case of failure? If he says that he is not yet preparing for an independent candidacy, Jean-Louis Billon does not rule it out. “We must pay attention to the way the convention will be organized, warns. If it is done irregularly, I will review my posture. I warned the entire team of elders, who are the guardians of the party. Any practice that is not correct will have negative consequences for the party. »