Ivory Coast former trade minister Jean-Louis Billon says he is seeking to represent the opposition PDCI party in Octobers presidential election after former Credit Suisse chief former Credit Suisse chief Tidjane Thiam was excluded from the final list of candidates last week.
The question of who will carry the mantle of the main opposition party risks adding to tensions in the world's top cocoa producer, which has a history of election-related violence including a brief civil war after the 2010 presidential contest that killed about 3 000 people.
In an interview with Reuters in the commercial capital Abidjan, Billon, 60, blamed party officials for the handling of legal challenges to Thiam's candidacy and did not rule out the possibility of representing another party, though he said it was too early to make such a move.
"I am asking for the PDCI's support," he says.
"It's a shame that PDCI President Thiam was eliminated, but it was the result of the lack of preparation of certain party officials that led to his elimination. That's why you always have to have several strings to your bow, especially when you're in politics."
