DAKAR, April 28, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Senegalese lawmakers were on Tuesday examining a proposed reform of the electoral code that critics say is designed to allow the country's premier to run in the next presidential vote.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was barred from standing in the February 2024 presidential election after being convicted of defamation.

Under Articles 29 and 30 of Senegal's electoral code, such a conviction makes a candidate ineligible.

The proposed reform, backed by the ruling majority, would amend those articles.

The opposition says the changes would clear the way for Sonko to stand in the next presidential poll, set for 2029.

The bill is expected to be put to a vote later on Tuesday.

In the 2024 election, Sonko was replaced by his deputy, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who went on to win and is now president.

Sonko is a fierce opponent of former president Macky Sall.

In May 2023 he was sentenced on appeal to a six-month suspended jail term and ordered to pay 200 million CFA francs ($356,000) in damages after a complaint filed by one of Sall's ministers.

Senegal's supreme court upheld the conviction in January 2024, just weeks before the presidential election.

In July 2025, it also rejected a further appeal by Sonko, restarting the debate over his eligibility.

- Limited ban -

"This legal case has nothing to do with my future candidacy," Sonko said, insisting that nothing could stop him from standing in an election.

His lawyers argue than an amnesty law passed in March 2024 wiped out the defamation conviction.

That law was passed in a bid to calm political tensions after unrest between 2021 and 2024 that left dozens dead in the normally stable west African country.

The bill under debate on Tuesday was introduced by Pastef, Sonko's party, which holds a strong majority in parliament.

Changes to Articles 29 and 30 were approved by a parliamentary committee on Saturday.

Pastef parliamentary leader Ayib Daffe said the reform aims to improve the electoral framework.

He said it would limit bans on electoral registration for convicted officials to five years after the completion of their sentence, rather than imposing a permanent ban.

The opposition coalition FDR rejected the proposal, calling it a "personalised law, tailored to fit a single man -- Ousmane Sonko".

It has called for the bill's immediate withdrawal.