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Dakar
In Senegal, the presidential election on February 25 will take place without the main political opponent. The Constitutional Council on Friday, January 5, rejected the candidacy of Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef). His supporters will have hoped, until the end, for a turnaround. “This surprised us all, we did not expect this from the Constitutional Council,” regrets Amadou Assane Leye, Pastef representative for the department of Thiès. However, the chances of the opponent, incarcerated since July 31 for calling for insurrection and criminal association, were already strongly compromised by a series of legal procedures.
On January 4, the Supreme Court confirmed his six-month suspended prison sentence and 200,000 million CFA francs (305,000 euros) in damages in a defamation case against the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang. The decision deprives Ousmane Sonko of his civil rights for a period of five years, according to article 30 of the electoral code. The opponent's lawyers have announced an appeal for judgment. But this will not change the situation for the February election.
“They can’t do anything anymore. The appeal for a judgment is not suspensive,” explains Daouda Mine, journalist specializing in legal issues. The Constitutional Council must publish the final list of selected candidates on January 20, after examining the merits of the files whose sponsorships have been validated. Despite the protest from members of the Pastef party, the name of Ousmane Sonko will not appear there. “The Constitutional Council decides as first and last resort. When he declares an application inadmissible, there is no longer any way to appeal,” says Dadoua Mine.
The mayor of Ziguinchor was considered one of the favorites to succeed current President Macky Sall. Appreciated by young people for his patriotic and anti-system speeches, Ousmane Sonko says he is the subject of legal “relenty”. His absence will considerably weaken the chances of the Pastef party, officially dissolved in July, of winning the election. The cards will also have to be reshuffled within the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW). “There will be disappointment, but we have a social project. We will do everything so that this project can pass. One way or another, Pastef will participate in the elections,” assures Amadou Assane Leye. The party's secretary general, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, imprisoned for "contempt of court", "defamation" and "dissemination of false news", was designated as plan B to replace Ousmane Sonko.
His application remains pending, since he still has to regularize 4,219 sponsorships. The political-judicial saga between Ousmane Sonko and the Senegalese government began in 2021, when the president of Pastef was placed in police custody following a rape complaint filed by masseuse Adji Sarr. Macky Sall is then accused of orchestrating a “plot” aimed at removing his main opponent. In this trial, Ousmane Sonko will finally be sentenced in absentia to two months in prison for “corruption of youth” in June 2023. On December 14, the decision was overturned by the Dakar high court, which ordered the re-registration of 'Ousmane Sonko on the electoral lists. But his representative will be refused sponsorship forms.
The Caisse des Dépôts et des Consignations will also refuse to give him the certificate for the payment of the obligatory deposit of 30 million CFA francs (45,000 euros). In total, more than 90 application files were submitted to the Constitutional Council before the deadline of December 26. Only nine have validated the sponsorship stage and around twenty have the possibility of regularizing duplicates. This face-to-face election is considered one of the most open in the history of the country. After leaving doubt surrounding his possible intentions to run for a third term, Macky Sall announced in July that he would step down. It is his current Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, for the moment rather in the background, who has been appointed to succeed him at the head of the Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition. The official campaign will begin on February 3. A possible second round is planned for the end of March.
