Usman Sonko's file was rejected by the Constitutional Council, which ruled it incomplete

Posted by: 01/05/2024 – 5:07 PM

2 minutes

With our correspondent in Dakar, Leah-Lisa Westerhoff

” The Chairman of the Constituent Assembly felt that an important part was missing from the nomination file », explained Maître Ciré Cledor Ly, who came to represent Ousmane Sonko during this study of the file. According to the prosecutor, no details were provided on the nature of the missing piece.

But in any case, this rejection is not conclusive. Normally, the Constitutional Court will notify the opponent of the missing documents and allow him to complete them, as has been the case with other presidential candidates in recent days.

For their part, lawyers for the president of BASTEP (African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity) assure that their file is complete. Although they did not appear in the official sponsorship collection forms which the Directorate General of Elections refused to issue to them, the sponsorships of the thirteen delegates required to verify the candidature have been found.

and a 30 million CFA deposit paid to the Office of Deposit and Inventory. One of his lawyers, M Bamba Cisse, said it had already been debited from the candidate's account.

This rejection by the Constitutional Court comes in addition The verdict was delivered overnight by the Supreme Court, affirming the opponent's six-month suspended sentence for defamation. The decision calls into question his eligibility and risks compromising his participation in the presidential election next February.

But here again, Ousmane Sonko's lawyers are promising that the opponent will retain his civil rights until he is officially removed and the process of removal from the electoral register is completed. According to them, the Jiguinchor court, where the opponent was registered in the electoral register, has not yet confirmed the removal. Ousmane Sonko will be given five days to appeal after the decision is announced.

Several elements that did not intervene before January 20, the date of official release of the candidate list. For lawyers of the country's arch-enemy, the relentless political-judicial soap opera that has kept Senegal in suspense for months is far from over.