2024-02-04 07:28:48
In Senegal, there will therefore be no presidential election on February 25. A few hours before the start of the electoral campaign, President Macky Sall announced a postponement sine the of this election. He explains this decision by the need to calm the climate and lift the veil on disputes over candidacies and accusations of corruption. The Senegalese head of state reiterated his commitment not to run, but he did not mention a duration for this postponement. This Sunday, February 4 in the morning, Paris called on Senegal to lift the “ uncertainties » created by this report.
Published on: 04/02/2024 – 08:28
4 mn
With our correspondent in Dakar, Léa-Lisa Westerhoff
A parliamentary commission which has just opened an investigation into the candidate selection process, accusations of corruption by two judges of the Constitutional Council, and a candidate who allegedly lied regarding her nationality: for Macky Sall, these “conditions troubles » and the risk of contesting the results of the presidential justify its postponement.
When will there be a new summons?
But the big question remains that of the calendar. When will voters be summoned once more? Karim Wade’s coalition requested a six-month delay in a bill which has a strong chance of being adopted.
So what will happen on April 2, the official date of the end of Macky Sall’s mandate? If the president has renewed his promise not to runextending his mandate violates the Constitution and his previous commitments, observers point out.
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The head of state also promised to open a dialogue to create the conditions for free and transparent elections in a peaceful Senegal. But who will participate and decide what, when the country has just closed a national dialogue, as noted by opposition candidate Khalifa Sall.
Senegal in the unknown
If this decision should serve to appease Senegal, it also risks creating new divisions and plunges the Senegal in the unknown. Last night, Saturday February 3, the opposition candidates promised to continue their campaign and called for resistance. And shortly following Macky Sall’s announcement, the minister secretary general of the government, Abdou Latif Coulibaly, who is also the brother of one of the judges of the Constitutional Council, announced his resignation.
This is the first time in the country’s history that an election has been postponed. For journalist Antoine Glaser, specialist in current affairs on the continent, this illustrates the current political vagueness in this country, with in particular a divided majority on the choice of Amadou Ba as candidate for the Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition: “ There were tensions, he wasn’t really his party’s candidate, I’m not in on the secret of the gods, but I imagine that there must have been a certain number of tests to find out if he might go out in the first round and it should not be very conclusive. »
« For the first time in this country, the lines are no longer at all clear and we feel that there is ultimately great disarray in the coalition, the parties among themselves are very worried regarding their future. It is nevertheless visible that there is a whole part of the population – and in particular the youth – who do not want to embrace the president’s kind of animosity once morest Ousmane Sonko. We are in a period of crisis in Senegal, in such regional turmoil. This whole traditional political class, everything was a bit structured, managed… Finally, there are questions regarding this country as there are in all the countries in the West African region. », concludes Antoine Glaser.
This Sunday, February 4 in the morning, Paris called on Senegal to lift the “ uncertainties » created by the report sine the of the presidential election announced by Senegalese President Macky Sall: “ We call on the authorities to remove uncertainties around the electoral calendar so that the elections can be held as quickly as possible and in compliance with the rules of Senegalese democracy. “, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
Read alsoSenegal: the presidential election of February 25 postponed “sine die”
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