Senegal Constitutional Council Publishes New Candidates List for Presidential Election

FILE — Supporters of the Aar Sunu Senegal opposition collective demonstrate on a street, in Dakar, on February 17, 2024.

DAKAR — Senegal's Constitutional Council on Tuesday published an amended list of candidates for a presidential election delayed from February 25 to a yet undecided date.

One candidate was removed from the list published by the Constitutional Council after she withdrew her application.

The council last week overturned a bill that delayed the vote to December - a move that had plunged the West African country into unchartered constitutional territory and stoked public anger against the government.

President Macky Sall, who said the postponement was needed due to a dispute over the candidate list, later pledged he would abide by the court’s decision and hold consultations to organize the vote as quickly as possible.

The new candidate list was almost unchanged from the original list for the February 25 vote apart from removing opposition contender, Rose Wardini. This brought the number of candidates down to 19 from an initial 20.

The council said Wardini withdrew her application without providing further detail.

Prominent opposition figures including the firebrand jailed politician Ousmane Sonko and Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, remained excluded.