Senegal's National Assembly has voted to amend the country's electoral code in a move that would allow Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to stand in the 2029 presidential election. The bill, introduced by Sonko's ruling Pastef party, passed on 28 April with 128 votes in favour, 11 against and two abstentions, reflecting the party's commanding majority in parliament. It now awaits the signature of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to become law.
The reform changes two key articles of the electoral code. Most significantly, it removes so-called "opinion offences" — such as defamation and spreading false news — from the list of convictions that render a person ineligible to stand for office. Under the new rules, only serious infractions such as corruption, embezzlement and money laundering would trigger disqualification. A separate article that automatically barred anyone fined more than 200,000 CFA francs (roughly €300) has also been repealed. Crucially, the law applies retroactively, meaning past convictions under the scrapped provisions would no longer count against a candidate.
That retroactive element lies at the heart of the controversy. Sonko was barred from the 2024 presidential race after a defamation conviction that was later confirmed by Senegal's Supreme Court in July 2025. Unable to run, he designated Faye as Pastef's candidate; Faye won the election and subsequently appointed Sonko prime minister. Opposition legislators argue the reform is a law "tailored to one man," designed to resolve a specific legal obstacle rather than address a genuine systemic problem. Opposition deputy Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Youn contended that retroactivity "violates the principle of res judicata" — the legal concept that final court rulings must be respected once all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.
Pastef legislators reject this framing. Ayib Daffé, head of the party's parliamentary group, argued that Sonko's eligibility is already established by the fact that he was elected to the National Assembly in November 2024, leading a national list. He maintained that the reform is aimed at preventing future political manipulation of the candidacy process, noting that the existing code was "designed to eliminate candidates according to political interest." Opposition MP Anta Babacar Ngom of the Alternative pour la Relève Citoyenne (ARC) countered that the government was "trying to solve a 2029 problem in 2026" while more pressing national issues go unaddressed.
The opposition has promised to refer the law to Senegal's Constitutional Council, challenging its legality on the grounds of the retroactivity clause. Whether the council accepts that challenge — and how President Faye chooses to proceed with the bill — will determine whether Sonko, one of West Africa's most prominent and polarising political figures, will be free to contest the next presidential election in his own name.