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This controversial system requires candidates to collect at least 34,580 signatures for this ballot (i.e. 0.5% of the electorate), and a maximum of 55,327 sponsorships, i.e. 0.8% of registered voters. A demand categorically rejected by the opposition coalition “Yewwi Askan Wi” of Ousmane Sonko and Khalifa Sall. For its part, the majority defends a ” need to avoid a multiplication of lists.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
Last April, the ECOWAS Court of Justice ordered Senegal to abolish sponsorships, for “ remove obstacles to free participation in elections “. The leaders of “Yewwi Askan Wi” demand the application of this decision and reject a system described as ” unacceptable ».
« We have a magician president when it comes to electoral fraud. He pulled out of his magic wand his sponsorship system which is a vast political scam since everyone knows that sponsorship is only a filter to eliminate candidates and tomorrow to eliminate lists “, declared Malick Gakou, president of the Grand Party, and member of the coalition, at a press conference on Monday.
The sponsorship system was not applied for the last local elections in January. He had already been debated during the 2019 presidential election. But this question is “ outdated according to Aminata Touré, on behalf of the majority coalition Benno Book Yakaar: We cannot rationally manage thousands or even millions of candidates, just as we cannot manage thousands of lists. It will be necessary to have a sieve. For a party or a serious candidate, it’s still not a sea to drink. »
For his part, Alassane Seck, president of the Senegalese Human Rights League, calls for ” serene discussions between the actors », « to find an intermediate solution with a view to peaceful elections.