{"id":50910,"date":"2024-01-09T09:06:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election"},"modified":"2024-01-09T09:24:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T09:24:24","slug":"constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election","title":{"rendered":"Constitutional Council rejects Sonko\u2019s candidacy for presidential election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Senegal\u2019s Constitutional Council on Friday rejected opposition leader Ousmane Sonko\u2019s application to run for president in elections next month due to missing documents, one of his lawyers, Cire Cledor Ly, said.<\/b><\/p>\n

The ruling deals a hard blow to Sonko\u2019s presidential aspirations, already hampered by a flurry of court cases that have piled up against him since he was accused of rape in 2021. The case has spurred violent protests across the country.<\/p>\n

Although he was cleared of the rape charge, Sonko has been found guilty of libel and an offence described in the penal code as immoral behaviour towards individuals younger than 21.<\/p>\n

He was arrested in July for insurrection and struck off the electoral role, but still submitted his candidacy from prison after a court in the south of Senegal ruled in his favour.<\/p>\n

Ly said the council rejected Sonko\u2019s application because his file was not complete. He said the council did not provide further details but that Sonko\u2019s team would lodge a complaint once they had more information on which documents were missing.<\/p>\n

The legal saga embroiling the popular opposition politician has fuelled several bouts of sometimes deadly unrest over the past two years \u2013 damaging Senegal\u2019s reputation as one of West Africa\u2019s most stable democracies ahead of the poll that will determine President Macky Sall\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n

Sonko denies any wrongdoing and says all charges against him are politically motivated. The government denies this and accuses Sonko of stoking violence. It dissolved his Pastef party in July.<\/p>\n

A former tax collector with a populist rhetoric, Sonko came third in Senegal\u2019s 2019 presidential election, garnering an unexpectedly high number of votes for a first-time runner.<\/p>\n

Particularly popular among disillusioned urban youth, he had become the voice of frustrations over economic hardship and lack of jobs that marred Sall\u2019s popularity over the course of his two terms in office.<\/p>\n

Applications to run in the presidential election are currently being reviewed ahead of a Jan. 20 deadline to publish a final list of cleared candidates.<\/p>\n

Sall in September named Prime Minister Amadou Ba as the ruling coalition candidate.<\/p>\n

Amid Sonko\u2019s legal travails, one of his close allies, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has applied to run as an independent candidate.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Senegal\u2019s Constitutional Council on Friday rejected opposition leader Ousmane Sonko\u2019s application to run for president in elections next month due to missing documents, one of his lawyers, Cire Cledor Ly, said. The ruling deals a hard blow to Sonko\u2019s presidential aspirations, already hampered by a flurry of court cases that have piled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":50909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-50910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nConstitutional Council rejects Sonko\u2019s candidacy for presidential election - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senegal\u2019s Constitutional Council on Friday rejected opposition leader Ousmane Sonko\u2019s application to run for presiden ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Constitutional Council rejects Sonko\u2019s candidacy for presidential election\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senegal\u2019s Constitutional Council on Friday rejected opposition leader Ousmane Sonko\u2019s application to run for presiden ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T09:06:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T09:24:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1704779450.578374.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1272\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Constitutional Council rejects Sonko\u2019s candidacy for presidential election\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-09T09:06:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-09T09:24:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/01\/sm_1704779450.578374.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/constitutional-council-rejects-sonkos-candidacy-for-presidential-election\",\"name\":\"Constitutional Council rejects Sonko\u2019s candidacy for presidential election - 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