Talla Sylla

Talla Sylla (born January 21 1966 [ [http://www1.adie.sn/jo/article.php3?id_article=5524 Decision of the Constitutional Council on presidential candidacies] , January 26, 2007 fr icon.] ) is a Senegalese politician. Sylla is the leader of Alliance for Progress and Justice Jëf-Jël and was a candidate in the 2007 presidential election.

Sylla was born in Pikine, in the outskirts of Dakar. Sylla joined the African Independence Party at the age of 14. He later entered the Université Cheikh Anta Diop to study sociology. In October 1987 he was elected president of the Dakar Students Coordination (CED). The following year he led a students strike. In 1990, after another students strike, Sylla was expelled from UCAD. He then shifted to France, to continue his studies there. At the Université de Grenoble he founded the Youth for Change (JPA) in 1991. When Sylla returned to Senegal in 1995, JPA was transformed into a political party, Jëf-Jël. In the April 2001 parliamentary election, Sylla was the sole Jëf-Jël candidate elected to the National Assembly. He later resigned from the National Assembly and was replaced by Moussa Tine. [ [http://www.seneweb.com/news/elections2007/article.php?artid=8347 "Talla Sylla, un parcours politique mouvementé"] , Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (Seneweb.com), February 5, 2007 fr.]

In the February 2007 presidential election, Sylla took 0.53% of the vote and eighth place. [http://www.seneweb.com/news/elections2007/article.php?artid=9107 "Le texte intégral de la décision du Conseil constitutionnel"] , Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (Seneweb.com), March 11, 2007 fr.] He was again the only Jëf-Jël candidate to be elected to the National Assembly in the parliamentary election held on June 3 2007, winning the seat through national list proportional representation. [ [http://www.seneweb.com/news/article/10765.php "Le Conseil constitutionnel confirme définitivement la large victoire de la Coalition Sopi"] , "Le Soleil" (Seneweb.com), June 15, 2007 fr icon.] On June 5, 2007, he announced that he was leaving politics for health reasons, attributing his health problems to a 2003 attack in Dakar, allegedly by people close to President Abdoulaye Wade. [ [http://apanews.net/spip.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=34788 "Prominent Senegalese opposition leader retires from political life"] , African Press Agency, June 6, 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://tallasylla-president.com/pages/accueilpag.html Campaign website]
* [http://www.lequotidien.sn/portrait/index.cfm?var_portrait=35 Article on Sylla in Le Quotidien]