Deemed ineligible for the 2024 presidential election, Ousmane Sonko can now hope to participate in the next one. The National Assembly of Senegal paved the way for the Senegalese Prime Minister to run in the next presidential election in 2029 by adopting, on Tuesday, April 28, a reform of the electoral code that has been denounced by the opposition.
Ousmane Sonko had been barred from running in the February 2024 election after a defamation conviction that resulted in the loss of his civil rights. He then designated his deputy, the current president Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to replace him.
A fierce opponent of President Macky Sall (2012-2024), Ousmane Sonko was sentenced in May 2023, on appeal, to a six-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay €300,000 in damages for defamation, following a complaint filed by a minister in President Sall's government. The Supreme Court upheld this conviction in January 2024, a few weeks before the election.
She then rejected, in July 2025, an appeal by Ousmane Sonko, who had been Prime Minister since April 2024, against this conviction, reigniting the debate about his eligibility.
Nevertheless, Ousmane Sonko was elected to parliament in the November 2024 legislative elections before resigning his seat to remain Prime Minister. His party argues that this means he is eligible to run again, as local elections are scheduled for 2027 before the 2029 presidential election.
But the opposition believes he benefited from "fraud" to be a candidate and be elected in these legislative elections.
With this law, the ruling party "is seeking additional guarantees. It wants to eliminate any risk to Sonko's candidacy in 2029. This law definitively paves the way for his candidacy" in that election, Alioune Tine, a prominent figure in civil society, explained to AFP. The Constitutional Council must validate the candidacies.
A "personal" law
For his supporters, the amnesty passed in March 2024 to ease political tensions, following unrest between 2021 and 2024 that left dozens dead in this West African country considered stable, erased Ousmane Sonko's conviction for defamation.
The bill, adopted in plenary session on Tuesday by a large majority, was introduced by Pastef, Ousmane Sonko's party, which largely controls the National Assembly.
The bill aims to "restructure and clarify" the grounds for civic disqualification, to "limit and harmonize its duration, now set at five cases from the expiration of the sentence," and is "retroactive," according to the text presented to parliament.
Guy Marius Sagna, a member of parliament from the ruling party, denounced the current electoral law, which he believes is designed "to eliminate candidates according to political interests," citing the case of Ousmane Sonko in 2024, during Tuesday's debates.
His opposition colleague, Aïssata Tall Sall, on the contrary, described the law as "personal," benefiting Ousmane Sonko, and "dangerous for the Republic because it retroactively erases sentences handed down sovereignly" by the courts.
The opposition coalition, the FDR, denounced in a statement "a law tailored to one man," Ousmane Sonko.
Sources: FRANCE 24, AFP
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