Barthélémy Dias, a former ally of the Pastef party and its leader Ousmane Sonko, but who has since become its opponent, was sentenced in 2017 to two years in prison, including six months, for the death of a person by gunshot in 2011 in a context of political violence. This conviction was confirmed on appeal in 2022 and validated by the Supreme Court in 2023.
El Malick Ndiaye, new President of Parliament installed on Monday, announced to the deputies on Friday the removal of Mr. Dias, decided the day before, invoking the Constitution and the internal regulations of the Assembly. A deputy who is the subject of a final criminal conviction is removed from the list of deputies at the request of the Minister of Justice, according to the Constitution.
Mr. Dias, elected deputy in 2022, retained his seat in the old Assembly under another majority. In October, the Constitutional Council validated his candidacy for the November legislative elections. Mr. Dias, absent in the hemicycle on Friday, should be replaced by the next person on his list.
His removal confirms the transformation of the political landscape since the presidential election, where the leader of Pastef Ousmane Sonko elected his right-hand man Bassirou Diomaye Faye who then appointed him Prime Minister. Pastef won 130 of the 165 seats in the legislative elections.
-The opposition is reduced to smithereens. Analysts consider Mr. Dias politically very weakened and envisage that he could also be dismissed from his post as mayor via another procedure. His mentor Khalifa Sall was stripped of his post as mayor by presidential decree in 2018 following a conviction for embezzlement.
Pastef won the presidential election in March 2024 and, in November, the legislative elections where Mr. Dias’ list only obtained three mandates. Mr. Dias was elected mayor of Dakar in 2022 in a coalition allying him with Mr. Sonko’s Pastef, opponent of then-president Macky Sall.
The two men fell out in 2023 with the presidential election on the horizon, and accuse each other of betrayal. MM. Dias and Sonko made virulent remarks towards each other during the legislative campaign. Mr. Dias did not go to prison after his conviction, his sentence being covered by the pre-trial detention he served.
