In Senegal, a judge cancels the removal of Ousmane Sonko from the electoral lists

2023-10-13 14:18:13

The political-judicial saga around the imprisoned Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko experienced a new twist on Thursday, with the decision of a provincial judge appearing to put him back in the presidential race.

Published on : 13/10/2023 – 16:18

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A major obstacle has been removed for Ousmane Sonko. A judge in Ziguinchor, in southern Senegal, canceled his removal from Senegal’s electoral lists on Thursday, October 12. This removal prevented the opponent, in prison since the end of July, from being a candidate for the 2024 presidential election, according to his lawyers and his dissolved party.

The lawyers of Ousmane Sonko, third in the 2019 presidential election, assured that their client could compete again in the February 2024 election.

The state’s judicial agent, in a statement published by news sites, however, said that the state would appeal against the judge’s decision and that Ousmane Sonko still could not be a candidate.

Last chance action

The opponent’s lawyers contested his removal on Thursday before a court in Ziguinchor, the city of which he is mayor and where he was registered on the lists. This action was presented by part of the press as his last chance to be a candidate.

The court “declared the removal of Mr. Ousmane Sonko from the electoral lists void and ordered his reinstatement, which should have immediate effect”, declared, Friday, in a message, one of his defenders, Me Ciré Clédor Ly.

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“The Ziguinchor district court said the law and only the law (…) Nothing justified the removal of President Ousmane Sonko from the electoral lists,” reacted one of the figures of the dissolved party, El Malick Ndiaye.

Standoff with power

Ousmane Sonko was found guilty on June 1 of debauchery of a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. Having refused to appear at the trial which he denounced as a plot to exclude him from the election, he was convicted in absentia.

Ousmane Sonko was imprisoned at the end of July on other charges, including calling for insurrection, criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise and endangering state security.

The authorities question his responsibility in a series of episodes of protest to which his standoff with power and his problems with the justice system have given rise since 2021 – the most serious in June – and which have left several dead.

With AFP