Senegal Constitutional Council Rejects Opposition Leader's Presidential Candidacy

Senegal's Constitutional Council on Friday rejected the candidacy of jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to run in next month's presidential election on the grounds his application was incomplete, his lawyer said

Dakar, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2024) Senegal's Constitutional Council on Friday rejected the candidacy of jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to run in next month's presidential election on the grounds his application was incomplete, his lawyer said.

"When we entered, (Council) President Badio Camara immediately notified us that (Sonko's) file was incomplete," Cire Cledor Ly said.

He did not specify what elements were missing. The 49-year-old opposition figure, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, has been at the center of a bitter stand-off with the state that has lasted more than two years and sparked several episodes of deadly unrest.

Authorities had previously refused to provide Sonko with all the necessary documents to run in the February 25 poll.

They argued that Sonko had been removed from the electoral register after being sentenced in June to two years' imprisonment for morally corrupting a young person.

He has been jailed since the end of July on other charges, including calling for insurrection, conspiracy with terrorist groups, and endangering state security.

Sonko's camp has maintained he still has the right to run in the election since a judge in December ordered that he be re-instated on the electoral roll. His team submitted his candidacy to the Constitutional Council last month.

In the latest legal case against him, the Supreme Court late on Thursday upheld a six-month suspended sentence against Sonko for defamation, widely seen as jeopardizing his chances of another presidential bid.