On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, the electoral commission of Senegal requested that sponsorship forms be sent to Ousmane Sonko, the head of the main opposition. Over the past year, a number of criminal allegations have cast doubt on Sonko’s candidacy for the 2017 presidential election.
Sonko made the decision while he is still in the hospital following his hunger strike that started earlier in October and while he is awaiting a ruling from a regional court in West Africa.
The ECOWAS Court of Justice said that it would rule on Senegal’s dissolution of Sonko’s political party the following week.
Sonko was removed from the voter records by Senegal’s Interior Ministry following his conviction earlier this year on charges of corrupting youth.
Sonko is the mayor of Ziguinchor, a city in the south, although a judge there later reversed the ruling.
As per the electoral commission’s declaration on Tuesday, Sonko is entitled to all the rights that come with being a registered voter.
In the previous presidential election, Sonko came in third place. According to his supporters, a coordinated effort to undermine his political ambitions in the run-up to the February election has resulted in a number of criminal accusations against him since 2021.
Sonko was cleared in June of all charges related to the rape and threats of death of a woman who worked at a massage parlor.
However, his conviction for corrupting minors and two-year prison sentence set up deadly riots around the nation.
Sonko’s political party was legally dissolved by Senegalese authorities towards the end of July, and he was taken into custody. He is currently being charged with insurrectionary calling, state conspiracy, and other offenses.
Ref: AP
