#Headlines

Senegal: YAWWI authorised to replace its resigning candidates

May 26, 2022, 11:18 AM

The Constitutional Court in Senegal considered "ill-founded" the decision of the Minister in charge of Elections to refuse the representative of the coalition Yewwi askan wi, the possibility of proceeding with the replacement of candidates who had requested their withdrawal from the list of Dakar by majority vote in legislative elections of July 31.

Indeed, the DGE had deemed inadmissible the list of YAW for the election of deputies of the department of Dakar for non-compliance with the law on parity among the people invested by the said coalition.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court notes that the decision of the minister, declaring inadmissible the list of YAW in the majority ballot in Dakar, is motivated by the non-respect of parity. He recalls, however, that Article 173 of the Electoral Code, which provided for the prohibition to withdraw candidacies and to make substitutions of candidacies, was repealed by Law No. 2021-35 of July 23, 2021 on the Electoral Code.

According to the Council, the decision of the Minister in charge of Elections to refuse the substitution of candidates is ill-founded. Therefore, the representative of the coalition Yewwi askan wi in the majority ballot for the department of Dakar is authorised to withdraw and substitute other candidates for the two resigned.

However, the Constitutional Court rejected all appeals relating to the cancellation of the sponsorships of the Bennoo Bokk Yaakaar (BBY) coalition, which had submitted a number of sponsors greater than the maximum required by law.