the Assembly returns their eligibility to Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade for the presidential election

2023-08-06 08:39:49

Seven months before the presidential election, two Senegalese opposition figures, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, should be able to defend their candidacy after the reform of the electoral code adopted on Saturday by the deputies. A reform that allows a person convicted and then having benefited from an amnesty or a pardon – which is the case of these two men – to appear on the electoral lists.

In Senegal, the deputies returned, Saturday, August 5, their eligibility for two opposition figures, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, seven months before the presidential election where they should be among the main candidates.

The reform of the electoral code adopted by 124 votes for, 1 against and 0 abstentions allows a person convicted and having subsequently benefited from an amnesty or a pardon – which is the case of Sall and Wade – to appear on the lists elections, and therefore to stand for election.

If the text defended by the government is promulgated, Khalifa Sall, former mayor of Dakar, and Karim Wade, heir to ex-president Abdoulaye Wade, are expected to be among the main presidential candidates for February 2024.

They had been prevented by their conviction in separate financial cases from competing in that of 2019 against the outgoing and future winner Macky Sall (unrelated to Khalifa).

Their electoral rehabilitation is above all considered as likely to contribute to overcoming the turmoil through which Senegal has passed.

The country, which stands out for its relative stability in a troubled region, has experienced several episodes of deadly protests since 2021 linked to the showdown between opponent Ousmane Sonko and the government.

Uncertainty over the incumbent president’s candidacy for a third term and over the eligibility of Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade has contributed to tensions.

President Macky Sall, at the head of the country since 2012, finally announced that he would not seek his succession.

After more than two years of open confrontation with power and two convictions, Ousmane Sonko, who has become the most visible figure in the opposition, was imprisoned on Monday on various charges, and his candidacy now seems unrealistic.

With the probable return to the race of Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the distribution of the presidential election, unprecedented in its indecision, is becoming more precise.

Karim Wade, 54, collaborator and minister of his father president from 2000 to 2012, was sentenced in 2015 to six years in prison for illicit enrichment. Detained for more than three years, he was pardoned in 2016 by the president, but had to go into exile.

03:52

Sonko’s Specter

Khalifa Sall, 67, mayor of Dakar from 2009, was found guilty of embezzling around 2.5 million euros from municipal coffers, and sentenced in 2018 to five years in prison. Imprisoned in 2017, he was released in 2019, also thanks to a presidential pardon.

The two opponents, like Ousmane Sonko, have denounced the proceedings against them as a political machination.

In this context, President Sall opened a dialogue with part of the opposition at the end of May. He agreed that the eligibility of Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade be discussed. The participants agreed to modify the electoral code.

Khalifa Sall and Ousmane Sonko have formed an alliance in 2021 with a view to future elections. Their coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi, won several cities, including Dakar, in the 2022 local elections, then established itself the same year as the main opposition force to Macky Sall in Parliament.

The hypothesis of an amnesty for Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, raised after these elections by President Sall, had been interpreted as a maneuver to fracture the opposition.

In fact, Khalifa Sall and his family agreed to participate in the dialogue initiated by the president when Ousmane Sonko vigorously refused. The figure of the latter hovered over the debate in the Assembly. The presidential camp left the session in turmoil when a deputy demanded that Ousmane Sonko benefit from the reform.

This consecrates “the elimination of a candidate who constituted an enormous hope for the populations”, said the deputy Bakary Diédhiou, speaking of “cynical” law.

The Minister of the Interior, Antoine Abdoulaye Félix Diome, argued that the text was not limited to reforming the conditions of eligibility, but also the rules of sponsorship or surety.

The presidential camp gave carte blanche to the head of state to designate a candidate for his own succession. His decision is expected after meeting with many suitors on Thursday.

Lawyer Juan Branco arrested

The Franco-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco, who is part of the defense of the opponent Ousmane Sonko, and who was wanted in Senegal, was also charged and imprisoned Sunday morning in Dakar after being arrested in neighboring Mauritania, indicated lawyers.

Juan Branco is accused of attack, conspiracy, dissemination of false news and acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political disturbances, confirmed Robin Binsard, one of his lawyers.

He is now also being prosecuted for illegal entry into the territory [sénégalais, NDLR] and contempt of court, added Robin Binsard, who denounces procedures “made to muzzle a lawyer”.

Me Branco refused to drink and eat, and decided to remain silent and not to allow anyone to assist him, including before the judge who charged him and imprisoned him, said in a message sent to AFP Me Ciré Clédor Ly, who was waiting for him with another lawyer on his arrival in the capital after his transfer from Mauritania.

The acts of attack are punishable by penalties of up to life imprisonment, added Me Ciré Clédor Ly. Juan Branco was detained in a prison in central Dakar, he said.

Me Branco made a name for himself in Senegal by taking part in the defense of Ousmane Sonko. The Franco-Spanish lawyer attracted particular attention by announcing a complaint in France and a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against President Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity” in June, while the country had just experienced its worst turmoil in years.

He has been targeted since mid-July by a Senegalese judicial investigation which announced the issuance of an arrest warrant.

After entering the territory of Senegal, where he appeared alongside the Senegalese lawyers of Ousmane Sonko, Me Branco was arrested in Mauritania after several days of research, and handed over to the Senegalese authorities. A sign of the importance given to the subject, the Minister of the Interior, Antoine Abdoulaye Félix Diome, announced his arrest on Saturday evening during a debate in the National Assembly.

Me Branco says he was “kidnapped” about 100 km from the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott by hooded men without any distinctive sign and who injured his wrists, according to Me Ciré Clédor Ly.