Senegal's opposition calls for the Interior Minister to resign after rejection of electoral list

In Senegal, the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition is keeping pressure on the APR party of President Macky Sall and his coalition.

Thousands of supporters of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko demonstrated Wednesday in Dakar.

They denounced what they called maneuvers by the President to politically eliminate his opponents. Their protest came after the Constitutional Council rejected the national list of Yewwi Askan Wi, led by Sonko's party. This means he is barred from participating in the July 31’ election, the opposition figure adamantly reaffirmed his determination.

"From now on, Ousmane Sonko said to his supporters, stay tuned. We will give you clear instructions, because the fight has only just begun. If the government decides to eliminate the list of Yewwi Askan Wi (the opposition coalition, ed) in the legislative elections, let it know that there will be no elections in Senegal. Or if there are elections, we will face Benno Bokk Yakaar (the coalition in power, ed)."

The ruling of the highest court confirmed the decision of the Senegalese Interior minister who deemed the national list of both the ruling party and the opposition party "inadmissible". Barthélémy Dias, mayor of Dakar and member of opposition called for the Minister to resign: "We demand the resignation (of the Minister of the Interior Antoine Diome, ed). And since he is not capable of resigning, we demand that Macky Sall brings in a responsible person, a fair person to organise the elections, because he alone is a living symbol of the instability that can reign in Senegal."

Millions of voters - living in the electoral districts, which comprise the 46 Senegalese departments and include the voters registered abroad- will head to the polls  next month.

In order to beat ruling party coalition which currently dominates the National Assembly, the Yewwi Askan Wi coalition and the Wallu Sénégal coalition of former president Abdoulaye Wade teamed up for next month's parliamentary election.