Presidential election in Senegal: end of submission of candidacies, 79 contenders

The number of files submitted to the Constitutional Council is not made public, but Le Soleil explains that the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, the body which receives the deposit checks of 30 million FCFA (45,000 euros) necessary for the candidacy for the presidential, received 79 files.

Among these candidacies are those of the main favorites of the February 25 election: Amadou Ba, member of the ruling coalition and current Prime Minister of Senegal, the imprisoned opponent Ousmane Sonko, the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, Karim Wade (son of former President Abdoulaye Wade) and Idrissa Seck, who came second in the 2019 presidential election.

Senegal: the absence of Macky Sall in the presidential election has reshuffled the entire political game

President since 2012, Macky Sall announced in July that he would not seek a new term. He appointed Amadou Ba to represent the majority.

Sonko candidate or not?

The Senegalese administration refused to issue the necessary documents for a candidacy for the mandate of Mr. Sonko, the central figure in a standoff of more than two years with the State which gave rise to several episodes of deadly unrest. Ousmane Sonko, 49, has however submitted his candidacy to the Constitutional Council, a manager of his party’s communications unit, Ousseynou Ly, told AFP, without further details.

Mr. Sonko, imprisoned since the end of July on various charges, including calling for insurrection, denounces this affair and others in which he has been implicated as plots aimed at excluding him from the presidential election. In mid-December, a judge relaunched his candidacy by ordering his re-registration on the electoral lists, confirming a decision rendered in October by the Ziguinchor court (South) which had been overturned by the Supreme Court.

In Senegal, freedoms under pressure one year before the presidential election

The state judicial agent filed the cassation appeal against this decision on Tuesday, according to Le Soleil.

The Constitutional Council must announce the list of candidates selected for the presidential election no later than January 20.

The pre-campaign and the campaign will begin respectively on January 5 and February 4, 2024, the National Audiovisual Regulatory Council (CNRA) indicated in a press release on Tuesday.