Just-concluded National Dialogue talks saw the government accept constitutional changes to permit former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade the son of ex-president Abdoulaye Wade to stand...

His son Karim Wade stays in Qatar rather than settle the €210 million fine for his corruption conviction and return home to the campaign trail...

But the 23 January local polls show they now face serious opposition after years of political hegemony aided by court cases that removed two major challengers – Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade – from the field of play (AC Vol 59 No 18 Not lacking convictions)...

In Senegal in 2012 he went head to head with the son of then President Abdoulaye Wade Karim Wade when the latter tried to dislodge Bolloré from his dominant position in the port of Dakar...

For many Senegalese the claims were reminiscent of the legal cases that had removed other prominent opponents Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall from the electoral scene (AC Vol 59 No 17 President plays by his rules & Vol 59 No 18 Not lacking convictions)...

Insiders believe that President Wade's energy minister and son Karim Wade made the original deals with Timis for exploring the offshore blocks and that when Wade lost office Timis had to make new deals with President Sall and his brother...

He has also reached out to Karim Wade...

He has the advantage of incumbency in a much-reduced field of candidates following the publication of the Constitutional Council's 3 January decision to accept just five: the incumbent; former president Abdoulaye Wade's son Karim Wade; the rising opposition firebrand Ousmane Sonko; Dakar's jailed former mayor Khalifa Sall; and the virtually unknown Issa Sall who leads the University of the Sahel (AC Vol 58 No 16 Who loves ya BBY...

Finally Karim Wade a former minister is domiciled in Qatar and not expected to campaign in Senegal...