How to nobble a political rival in Africa and get away with it
Use the courts
“THE MOST dangerous precedent in the political history of Senegal,” was how El Malick Ndiaye, a spokesman for Senegal’s main opposition party, described the decision. If that sounds like hyperbole, it should not. On January 20th Senegal’s Constitutional Council ruled that Ousmane Sonko, an opposition leader, could not stand in the presidential election in February because of a conviction for defamation.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Putting the rule in rule of law”
From the January 27th 2024 edition
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