PH
On Thursday, a Senegalese judge ruled that imprisoned opposition leader Ousmane Sonko be reinstated on the electoral registry, paving the way for him to run in next year’s presidential election.
Sonko was removed off Senegal’s electoral roll after being sentenced to two years in prison in June for morally influencing a young person.
In the 2019 presidential election, the 49-year-old political thorn in President Macky Sall’s side finished third.
However, his removal from the electoral rolls made him ineligible to vote in the February elections.
Sonko has been at the center of a two-year standoff with the state, which has resulted in multiple periods of fatal upheaval.
Sonko’s restoration was ordered by a judge in Dakar, who affirmed an October verdict by a court in Ziguinchor, the southern city where Sonko is mayor.
The West African country’s top court disagreed with the regional court verdict last month.
Nonetheless, it concluded that Sonko’s case should be remanded to the Dakar court.
Sonko now has till December 26 to present his candidacy and secure the requisite endorsements.
On Thursday, his followers chanted his name when the ruling was announced in court.
The firebrand politician has faced a series of legal woes over the past two and a half years.
He and his lawyers say the court cases are part of a plot to torpedo his political career.
Legal wrangles
But El Hadji Diouf, lawyer for the state, said: “We will file an appeal in cassation as we did in Ziguinchor and the same procedure will take its course and the decision will be overturned.
“Those celebrating today got it all wrong.”
One of Sonko’s lawyers, Cire Cledor Ly, said that although the state could lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court, it would not stop Thursday’s decision being implemented immediately.
“The electoral code is very clear. When the judge gives his decision, this decision must be immediately carried out,” he said.
Following the regional court decision, the General Directorate of Elections declined to provide Sonko with the formal papers required by candidates to gather sponsorships.
The national electoral commission, on the other hand, requested that Sonko be reinstated on the electoral rolls and that he be given the necessary documents.
On June 1, Sonko was found guilty in absentia of morally influencing a young person and sentenced to two years in jail.
He was arrested in late July on further allegations of inciting insurgency, criminally associating with a terrorist organization, and harming state security.
He has periodically been on hunger strikes since then.
He sees the cases against him as scheming to keep him out of the presidential election. The government rejects any tampering with the justice system.
Sonko is especially popular among the under-20s, who account for half of the population, with his pan-Africanist rhetoric and severe attitude on former colonial power France.
