Senegal Lawmakers Launch Inquiry Into Election Process

(Bloomberg) -- Senegalese lawmakers launched an investigation into the validation process of contenders for next month’s presidential election after the independence of two judges at the Constitutional Council was thrown into doubt.

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Senegal is readying for Feb. 25 elections with voters choosing from 20 contenders who the council cleared this month to run for office. The vote will exclude Ousmane Sonko, the politician who posed the biggest threat to the ruling coalition.

Karim Wade, the son of President Macky Sall’s predecessor, was also rejected as a candidate. The council deemed that Wade, who ran several ministries between 2000 and 2012, while his father, Abdoulaye Wade, was in power, still held his French citizenship when he filed his candidacy.

Wade later questioned his disqualification from the vote based on him holding dual citizenship.

Lawmakers from Sall’s ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition on Wednesday backed the inquiry while some opposition MPs voted against.

Members from Wade’s Senegalese Democratic Party called for a postponement of the election.

The election campaign officially begins on Feb. 3.

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