Senegal: Sponsorship of presidential candidates [The Morning Call]

Opinions on the sponsorship system adopted in Senegal on Monday are divided especially in the run up to the 2019 presidential election.

If passed, it would require all candidates standing in next year’s presidential election to collect the signatures of at least one per cent of the registered voters in the country’s seven regions before being validated.

An equivalent of sixty five thousand sponsors per candidate. The proposal has however sparked a fierce public debate with some opposition and activist groups.

The sponsorship of presidential candidates, was one of the stumbling blocks in the negotiations between the government and opposition on the electoral process in the country.