SENEGAL opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been released from prison ahead of the presidential election later this month.

Mr Sonko is widely seen as the main challenger to President Macky Sall’s ruling party. 

As he left the prison complex on Thursday night, Mr Sonko was greeted outside by crowds of supporters waving flags, chanting and holding up posters.

Mr Sonko, who had been in prison since last July, has fought a long legal battle to run for president in the March 24 election. 

Mr Sonko’s lawyers said his close ally, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, had also been freed. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how their releases would affect the election. 

Mr Faye was named the opposition election candidate after Mr Sonko was barred from running.

Supporters also gathered at Mr Sonko’s house and at other locations in the capital, Dakar, to celebrate. Convoys of supporters drove around the city tooting their horns and yelling until late at night.

Mr Sonko was disqualified from the ballot in January because he had been convicted of defamation and handed a six-month suspended sentence, Senegal’s highest election authority, the Constitutional Council, said at the time.

Mr Sonko’s supporters claim his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy. 

His release follows President Sall’s decree to exonerate political prisoners, including hundreds who were arrested during pro-democracy protests last year.

Mr Sall tried to postpone the election last month, just weeks before it was to take place on February 25. His announcement that the vote would instead be held in December plunged Senegal into uncertainty and drew protesters to the streets again. 

But the Constitutional Council rejected Mr Sall’s postponement and ordered the government to set a new date as soon as possible.

Mr Sonko finished third in the 2019 presidential election and his fiery campaign to tackle Senegal’s rampant corruption is particularly popular among the country’s young people.