2024-02-14 10:37:47
Dakar, Feb 13 (APS) – Former President of the Republic, Abdou Diouf, calls on citizens and the political and ruling class of Senegal to demonstrate restraint and integrity while working in favor of application to the letter of the provisions of the Constitution.
“I ask the Senegalese people, their political class and their leaders to demonstrate restraint and integrity by applying to the letter the provisions of our Constitution while preserving the public freedoms acquired through hard work in the construction of our democracy ”, indicated the successor of Léopold Sédar Senghor.
In a message made public on Tuesday, the former head of state declared that he had decided to break the oath he had made to abstain from any comments on political life due to the unprecedented institutional crisis that lives Senegal.
In a letter published Monday, Abdou Diouf and Abdoulaye Wade, his successor at the head of Senegal, invited the entire political class as well as civil society to participate in the national dialogue launched by the head of state, Macky Sall , for “frank and fair discussions”, so that “the next presidential election of December 15, 2024 is held in perfectly transparent, inclusive and indisputable conditions”.
Due to the comments sparked by this public outing, Abdou Diouf said he noted “with regret and sadness” that the letter published with his signature and that of President Abdoulaye Wade arouses a lot of incomprehension.
“I would like to clarify, so that there is no ambiguity, that the Constitutional Council that I created in 1992 remains the ultimate guarantor of our institutions and our democracy,” argued Abdou Diouf.
He insisted on the fact that it was up to the Constitutional Council and him alone to state the law and take the decisions that are binding on everyone regarding the electoral calendar and respect for the duration of the presidential mandate.
The sudden rise in political tension in Senegal occurred after the head of state, Macky Sall, announced on February 3 the repeal of the decree he had signed to convene the electoral body on February 25.
To explain his decision, President Macky Sall invoked suspicions of corruption raised by the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) against two judges of the Constitutional Council regarding the rejection of the candidacy file of its leader for the presidential election , Karim Meissa Wade.
This announcement was followed two days later by the vote in the National Assembly for a law postponing the February 25 presidential election until December 15.
Opposition deputies filed two appeals to demand the annulment of this law adopted during a stormy session marked by the expulsion of opposition deputies by the gendarmes.
On Friday, clashes between police and demonstrators opposed to the postponement of the vote broke out in Dakar and other localities in the country. Three deaths have been recorded to date.
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