DAKAR: Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and his deputy, presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye, were released from prison in Dakar on Thursday, 10 days before the country’s elections. “They came out before us,” said lawyer Cheikh Koureyssi Ba, as an AFP journalist witnessed a convoy of cars leaving the prison through a large crowd. Their release follows weeks of crisis after President Macky Sall postponed a presidential vote until February 25.
It could also dramatically change the presidential campaign, with Sonko’s powerful rhetoric striking a chord with young voters. A legal dispute against him, along with economic and social tensions, led to deadly riots between 2021 and 2023. The opposition puppet placed third in the 2019 presidential election, but was disqualified in 2024.
Faye, who is one of the main contenders for the presidency, has not been able to address voters in person since the start of the campaign on March 9. The “Diomaye President” coalition on Thursday organized a rally across the northern edge of the capital on the sixth day of the campaign.
Even before Sonko’s release from prison, when rumors began to circulate on social media that he might be released, crowds of Dakar residents took to the streets to celebrate. Cars and pedestrians waving Senegalese flags gathered at a prison south of Dakar where two dissidents were being held. “We love Sonko,” they chanted. “It’s a joy. It’s unbelievable. They released Ousmane Sonko!” said 31-year-old Mamadou Mballo Mane.
The release came after President Sall proposed a law granting amnesty for acts committed in connection with political demonstrations from 2021. It was an effort to end weeks of crisis after he postponed the vote. It was expected that Faye and Sonko could be the main potential beneficiaries, but it is unclear whether they were released under the amnesty law. Sall is not running again this year.
The new date was finally set for March 24 after a month of political crisis. The unrest since 2021 has killed dozens of people and led to hundreds of arrests in a country often seen as a bastion of stability in coup-hit West Africa. Sonko was a divisive figure in the turmoil. While some see him as an outrageous agitator, others see him as a leader of the people.
Sonko has always maintained that there was a conspiracy to keep him out of the 2024 elections, while his camp and the government trade blame for the violence. The opposition representative was convicted twice in 2023 – for defaming a minister and for corrupting a minor. He has been jailed since late July on a number of other charges, including inciting insurrection, conspiring with terrorist groups and endangering state security. His political party was also dissolved.
