Jean-Louis Billon

Gbagbo was still blocked in Europe waiting for final ICC confirmation of his acquittal on charges of human rights crimes while the ageing Bédié had refused to make way for a younger and more dynamic PDCI representative such as former minister Jean-Louis Billon...

In all camps there are capable younger political figures – such as Jean-Louis Billon in Bédié's Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI) or Georges Ouegnin from the Gbagbo-loyalist Ensemble pour la démocratie et la souveraineté (EDS)...

It was rumoured that the threat of financial or tax probes hung over Thierry Tanoh and Jean-Louis Billon the most likely younger alternatives to Bédié as candidate for the opposition Parti démocratique de la Côte d'Ivoire (PDCI)...

Activists backing younger politicians such as Jean-Louis Billon or even Thierry Tanoh may voice dissent...

) The former ministers Thierry Tanoh and Jean-Louis Billon are the names most often cited and the latter certainly seeks to present the PDCI as a 'team' (AC Vol 60 No 7 Electoral arithmetic)...

Some speculate that he might copy Malaysia's nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad and promise to stand aside after a year or two in favour of a vice-presidential running mate from the younger generation – such as Thierry Tanoh or Jean-Louis Billon...

Bédié has already sent the PDCI Executive Secretary former commerce minister and businessman Jean-Louis Billon to see Gbagbo in his Brussels home to prepare the ground for a direct meeting between the two...

She thanked Ouattara for releasing the prisoners but it didn't stop her meeting PDCI secretary Jean-Louis Billon two days later...

Its octogenarian leader ex-President Henri Konan Bédié has already managed to sideline the young talent in his own party – including bright stars like Kouadio Konan Bertin Jean-Louis Billon and Thierry Tanoh – but he is clear about one thing: the next presidential candidate preferably running under an RHDP flag will come from his party's ranks...

None of the business-oriented PDCI hopefuls (Jean-Louis Billon who lost his ministerial post at Commerce Brou and Thierry Tanoh) has a seat in Parliament...