The Constitutional Council validated the candidacy of the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade for the presidential election on February 25. But another candidate, Thierno Alassane Sall, believes that he did so wrongly because, according to him, his opponent has not renounced his French nationality.
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With our correspondent in Dakar, Léa-Lisa Westerhoff
While the presidential candidates had until Tuesday evening to submit their complaint to the Constitutional Council, an old controversy over the possible dual nationality of candidate Karim Wade has just resurfaced. This is a prerequisite indicated by the Senegalese Constitution: according to article 28, “ any candidate for the presidency of the Republic must be exclusively of Senegalese nationality “.
However, born to a French mother, the candidate of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) has long been binational. Is he still there? No, answer the executives of Karim Wade’s party, who provided a certificate to this effect, validated by the Constitutional Council.
“A question of principle”
But the fact that Karim Wade is still registered on the electoral roll in the commune of Versailles in France has added fuel to the controversy. And this is the main argument of candidate Thierno Alassane Sall to justify his claim to the Council of Elders. “ It’s a matter of principle. It’s nothing personal », justifies the latter, while he formally asked the Constitutional Council to re-examine the validity of Karim Wade’s candidacy in light of this status of voter in France, reserved for the French.
On the side of the Senegalese Democratic Party, we refuse to provide new proof of the renunciation of French nationality. “ We provided the documents required by the Constitutional Council which validated the application », Explains Karim Wade’s campaign director, Maguette Sy.
The Constitutional Council has only three days left to rule on this question and on all the complaints submitted to it.