(Bloomberg) -- An Abidjan court in a last minute decision ordered the suspension of the conference where the main opposition party sought to name a new leader on Saturday. 

Former Credit Suisse banker Tidjane Thiam is among the candidates vying to lead the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast after the death of Henri Konan Bedie, who headed the West African nation’s opposition party for three decades.

The Abidjan-based court of first instance ordered the congress scheduled for Dec. 16 be postponed, according to a court filing seen by Bloomberg. Security forces blocked access to the hotel where the conference was scheduled to take place on Saturday morning, and to the party’s headquarters. 

A spokeswoman for the party said the conference had been postponed for now. Thiam assured PDCI supporters he would participate in the upcoming vote.

“It’s sure that the vote will not take place today,” Thiam told supporters. “What I can tell you as a candidate at this point is that no matter how or when the vote takes place, I will still be a candidate.”

Thiam, who ran Credit Suisse for five years, last month officially declared his intention to run for the leadership of the PDCI into the 2025 presidential elections. Other candidates vying for the job include the party’s secretary general Maurice Kakou Guikahue, Cocody mayor Jean-Marc Yace and businessman Noel Akossi Bendjo.

 

(Updates with party spokeswoman, Thiam reaction from fourth paragraph.)

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