In Senegal, the Constitutional Council published a list – still provisional – on the night of Friday January 12 to Saturday January 13 of 21 candidates for the presidential election on February 25. Note, already, that the main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, does not appear there. The final list must be published before January 20.
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With our correspondent in Dakar, Théa Ollivier
Among the 21 candidates who were validated, after examining all the documents in the files, we can count, unsurprisingly, the current Prime Minister, Amadou Ba who is the candidate of the presidential camp, as well as Idrissa Seck and Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, two former heads of government, or Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, former Minister of Agriculture and the Interior.
On the opposition side, the former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, and Karim Wade, of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) were both validated, although their candidacies had been rejected, during the last election of 2019.
Sonko, largely absent
The big absentee from this list is Ousmane Sonko, an opposition figure who was given among the favorites. Imprisoned and convicted in several legal cases, his candidacy was deemed inadmissible for not having produced the certificate confirming the deposit of the deposit, at the Caisse des Dépôts et de Consignation.
Several other candidates from his camp have however passed, such as Bassirou Diomaye Faye, presented as his plan B who is also in detention but who has not yet been tried, but also Cheikh Tidiane Dièye and Habib Sy, former presidents of the conference of leaders of the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi.
But this list can still change. The 93 candidates who had submitted their files can still make a claim next Monday and Tuesday. The Constitutional Council then has three days to rule and publish the final list, before January 20.
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