The Court admits that it is apparent from the provisions of Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, that every citizen shall have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the provisions of the law. Every citizen has the right, and is entitled to, without any unreasonable discrimination or restriction: To participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives; To access, vote and be voted for during periodic, transparent elections, in a universal and egalitarian suffrage of secret ballot, in expression of the free will of the voters. In the instant case, Karim Meissa Wade avers that he is a victim of the violation of his right to vote and of his right of eligibility to stand for elections, because according to him, even though he had a voter’s card, and his name had been registered on the electoral roll, by virtue of the extraordinary revision of the electoral list for the purposes of the presidential election of 24 February 2019, the central administrative units of the Ministry of Interior rejected his registration on the ground that the new Article L57 of the Electoral Code first required that every candidate for said presidential election shall first of all be a qualified voter; that he was thus denied his right as a voter and as a person eligible to stand for elections. As pleaded by the Republic of Senegal however, it is apparent from the facts that it was in compliance with Article L31 of the Electoral Code that his application for registration on the electoral list was rejected; that Article L31 of the said Electoral Code provides that: “Shall not be registered on the electoral roll: (1) persons convicted of crime; (2) persons sentenced to non-custodial prison terms or to custodial prison terms exceeding one (1) month, with the option of a fine, for any of the following offences – theft, fraud, abuse of trust, drug trafficking, embezzlement and corruption in public office, bribery, undue influence peddling, counterfeiting, and in general terms, any offence liable to imprisonment for a term not less than five (5) years; Translator: E. Nkansah 10

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