Senegal has released its final list of 20 candidates for the February 25 presidential election, but some opposition leaders, including Ousmane Sonko and Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye, have not been included. Wade.
On Saturday, the Constitutional Council convened to list Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who was appointed by President Macky Sall as his successor after Sall announced in July that he would not run for a third term.
France 24 reported that other former officials on the list include former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, who is said to be Sonko’s successor and and others.
The dissident Sonko, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, has often clashed with the government, resulting in his imprisonment.
The Constitutional Council rejected Sonko’s candidacy because of the sentence imposed by the Supreme Court on January 4 of six months for defamation.
Sonko was also sentenced in June 2023 to two years in prison for bribery, calling for rebellion, and endangering national security.
He has denied all the charges against him, saying that they are aimed at preventing him from campaigning in the February presidential election.
This is the first time that Senegal is holding multi-candidate presidential elections.
Sall was elected President of Senegal in 2012, re-elected in 2019, and later announced that he would not run for the presidency again.
