As the second and final round of remedial submissions for 23 presidential candidates begins in Senegal today, a coalition of 28 contenders is urgently requesting corrective measures to enhance the transparency of the sponsorship verification system. Yesterday, they formally filed an appeal with the Council of Elders.
The primary grievance of the 28 signatories, including opposition figure Ousmane Sonko and former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, revolves around the invalidation of thousands of sponsors in their candidacy documents, deemed “unidentified” by the Council of Elders.
Interestingly, these individuals are duly registered in the electoral register, as highlighted by Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, former minister and candidate, who raises serious concerns: “I served as the Minister of Interior in Senegal and organized the 2019 elections. It is only natural to question this because when someone has their voter ID, is regularly registered, and has never changed their polling station, there is no justification for their absence in the electoral register.”
For former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, the unexplained disappearance of thousands from the electoral register, numbering 10,000 in her case, casts doubt on the reliability of the sponsorship verification system and the electoral register used by the Constitutional Council. She remarked, “This is unprecedented in Senegal’s history. In terms of volume, the question arises as to which register should be trusted, which register does the Constitutional Council use to verify sponsorship?”
The 28 signatories are urging the Constitutional Council to rectify these errors and enhance transparency regarding the electoral register or the software used to verify sponsorships, ensuring clarity in the rules of the game for all.
In a statement released on Monday, the Constitutional Council merely provided a list of the 23 candidates allowed to rectify their invalidated sponsorships within 48 hours. The evolving dynamics surrounding sponsorship verification and electoral processes in Senegal continue to shape the narrative as the presidential election approaches.