The Head of State had undertaken to make announcements, after a decision by the Constitutional Council disavowing him. But time passes and the opposition becomes impatient.
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“Everything works to the rhythm of President Macky Sall’s bad will.” Fifteen presidential candidates in Senegal are demanding a new date for the vote, in a press release published Tuesday February 20. At the beginning of the month, the head of state first announced a postponement of the election, which was interpreted by the opposition as a “constitutional coup”.
The Constitutional Council finally vetoed this postponement last week, thus disavowing Macky Sall. The latter then undertook to organize the vote “as soon as possible”, but impatience is spreading among the ranks of the opposition. This announces future actions, without saying more, so that a new date can be announced.
“An inexplicable slowness has been noted. Nothing has been done” despite the developments of the past week, denounce the fifteen candidates in their joint press release. Among the co-signatories are the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, and two representatives of imprisoned candidates Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye and Ousmane Sonko. Nothing has leaked publicly about the discussions that President Sall would lead. The fifteen candidates say that the electoral process should have resumed and accuse the president of not assuming his mission.
“Everything suggests that Macky Sall cannot digest the defeat by the Constitutional Council and the people of his attempt to sabotage the presidential election.”
press release from the fifteen Senegalese opposition candidates
The citizen collective Aar Sunu Election (“Let’s protect our election”), for its part, announced a new gathering on Saturday. The collective is calling for the vote to be held before April 2, the official end date of President Sall’s mandate. According to its projections, the election, initially scheduled for February 25, must take place on March 3 at the latest. Aar Sunu Election asked participants to come symbolically with their voter card, but also food or drinks for what is intended. “farewell” of President Sall. He also calls on the Senegalese to symbolically go to the polling stations on Sunday.
Senegal’s international partners have expressed their concern about this situation. President Sall’s commitment to implementing “entirely” the decision of the Constitutional Council, as well as various gestures such as the provisional release of hundreds of detainees have created a fragile sense of appeasement. But the country remains in the grip of a lively dispute over the holding of the presidential election before or after April 2, and over whether or not to restart the candidacy approval process from scratch.