Fractious legislative campaign kicked off

Senegal kicked off campaigning Sunday for parliamentary elections later this month, with a record number of candidates vying to weaken President Macky Sall — including 91-year-old ex-leader Abdoulaye Wade. Wade, president from 2000 to 2012, has been living in France for the past several months, but was expected to return to Dakar on Monday to […]

Senegal kicked off campaigning Sunday for parliamentary elections later this month, with a record number of candidates vying to weaken President Macky Sall — including 91-year-old ex-leader Abdoulaye Wade.

Wade, president from 2000 to 2012, has been living in France for the past several months, but was expected to return to Dakar on Monday to lead the campaign for his Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS).

“I will campaign, but not the same way as when I was young,” he told a local television station Friday.

A parliamentary victory for the opposition would give Wade the means to obtain an amnesty for his son, Karim, who enjoyed considerable ministerial powers under his father, but was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015.

Another list of candidates will be fielded by the mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who has been jailed since March on suspicion of embezzling about $2.9 million in city funds.