DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal’s two best known opposition figures have been barred from running in presidential elections next month, the Constitutional Council said on Monday, increasing President Macky Sall’s chances of securing a second term in office.

FILE PHOTO: Senegal's President Macky Sall speaks at the 2018 Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation joint news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China September 4, 2018. Lintao Zhang/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Khalifa Sall, a former mayor of Dakar who bears no relation to President Sall, and Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, were jailed for graft and corruption in 2018 and 2015 respectively.

Under Senegalese law, the sentences effectively ended their chances of running in the Feb. 24 poll and the Constitutional Council confirmedThe House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill which seeks to require a 10-day yearly incentive leave with pay for employees, in a bid to “boost the workers’ morale, wellness, and productivity.”

With 203 voting in the affirmative, zero in the negative and no abstention, the lower Chamber passed House Bill 6770, which specifically seeks to amend Article 95 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines.

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Once enacted into law, every employee who has rendered at least one year of service would be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of 10 days, from the current five days.

In an earlier statement, Baguio Rep. Mark Go, who principally-authored the bill, said the prevailing law does not require employers