Now definitively excluded from the presidential race the imprisoned Ousmane Sonko waits to learn whether his stand-in Bassirou Diomaye Faye will be allowed out of jail to campaign in person (Dispatches 23/1/24 Prime Minister Ba is poll favourite after court rules out Ousmane Sonko)...

As a back-up the ex-Pastef camp has also submitted nomination papers for its alternative candidate the movement's general secretary Bassirou Diomaye Faye a political scientist from Gaston Berger University in St Louis...