(Dakar) Senegal is suspended on Friday by the reaction of the head of state, Macky Sall, the day after the invalidation by the Constitutional Council of the postponement of the presidential election which plunges the country into the unknown.
The surprise cancellation, announced by Mr. Sall, of the February 25 election and then the decision of Parliament to postpone it until December 15, caused one of the most serious political crises in decades in this country renowned for its stability in a region marked by the multiplication of coups d’état.
The invalidation of this postponement on Thursday evening by the Constitutional Council opens a new period of great uncertainty as new calls for demonstrations have been launched for Friday and Saturday.
Mr. Sall indicated last week that he would advise on the consequences he would draw from a possible invalidation of the postponement by the court.
The Council noted “the impossibility of organizing the presidential election on the date initially planned” of February 25, given the delay in the process, and “invites the competent authorities to hold it as soon as possible”.
He reaffirmed the principle of “intangibility” of the five-year duration of the presidential mandate.
President Macky Sall’s mandate officially expires on April 2. Elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, the head of state gave his word that he would not run for a third term.
To justify the postponement of the election, he invoked the “dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council, in open conflict against the backdrop of an alleged case of corruption of judges”.
At the request of Karim Wade, whose candidacy was invalidated, and who called into question the integrity of two constitutional judges, a parliamentary commission of inquiry supported by the presidential camp was created on the conditions of validation of the candidacies.
Macky Sall said he wanted an indisputable election, worrying about the risk of new outbreaks of violence after those of 2021 and 2023.
Release of opponents
The demonstrations against the postponement of the presidential election, banned by the authorities, were repressed and any gathering was prevented by massively deployed security forces firing tear gas. Three young men have been killed and dozens of others have been arrested since the start of the mobilization.
Since the announcement of the postponement, the opposition has called it a “constitutional coup” and the country’s Western partners have expressed their concern. Macky Sall affirmed his desire for “appeasement and reconciliation” and proposed a dialogue with the rest of the political class.
On Thursday, several opponents were released from prison. “Most of my clients in cases set up for political considerations are released,” M told AFPe Cheikh Koureissy Bâ, assuring that this concerned several dozen detainees.
According to a list distributed by a group of families of detainees and another lawyer who follows these cases, several figures of the protest movement against Macky Sall, also supporters of opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, were released.
Among them, Aliou Sané, coordinator of the citizen movement “Y’en a marre”, Djamil Sané, mayor of a commune in Dakar and several members of the dissolved opposition party Pastef.
On the other hand, neither Ousmane Sonko, nor his second at the head of the Pastef party, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, one of the favorites in the presidential election, were released.
Several hundred members of the opposition, more than a thousand according to certain human rights organizations, have been arrested since 2021 and the power struggle between Mr. Sonko, implicated in several legal proceedings, head of state.
The opposition accused the presidential camp of making arrangements with the electoral calendar for fear of the defeat of its candidate, Prime Minister Amadou Ba. She suspects a maneuver to keep Mr. Sall in power, even if the latter refutes it.