The Senegal Presidential Election Postponement: Protests, Clashes, and Unrest

2024-02-09 22:38:00

Friday’s mobilization was the first major protest since the postponement of the presidential election initially scheduled for February 25.

Security forces violently dispersed an attempted rally in Dakar on Friday, during a day that tested the balance of power between the power of President Macky Sall, civil society and the opposition.

Friday’s mobilization is the first major protest since the postponement of the presidential election initially scheduled for February 25, which opened a serious political crisis in Senegal and plunged the country into a period of uncertainty.

Police in riot gear kept away people trying to access the vast esplanade of Place de la Nation by firing tear gas, provoking clashes. A cloud of smoke rose above the entire area.

“The Senegalese must be outraged”

Protesters responded by throwing rocks and setting up barricades with makeshift objects – planks and stones – and setting tires on fire. In Colobane, where the stalls are usually crowded, all the stores have closed.

The postponement of the presidential election for 10 months has sparked outrage widely shared on social networks. The opposition calls for a “constitutional coup”. She suspects a scheme to avoid the defeat of the candidate of the presidential camp, or even to keep President Sall at the head of the country for several more years.

Attempts to demonstrate since the announcement of the postponement have been repressed and dozens of people arrested. Authorities have commonly banned such protests and prevented them from taking place in recent years. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds arrested since 2021 during different episodes of protest.

A mandate officially expiring on April 2

The Aar Sunu Election collective (“Let’s protect our election”), which is planning another demonstration on Tuesday, insisted on its desire to protest peacefully and maintain its independence. A dozen candidates opposed to the change of calendar, out of the 20 selected by the Constitutional Council, expressed their desire for convergence with civil society.

President Sall decreed last Saturday the postponement of the presidential election, just three weeks before the deadline, in the midst of a political fight over the candidates retained or rejected for the vote.

The National Assembly approved on Monday a postponement until December 15, with the votes of the presidential camp and supporters of a failed candidate and under the protection of the gendarmes.

She also voted to maintain Macky Sall in power until his successor takes office, probably in early 2025. Macky Sall’s second term officially expired on April 2.

After maintaining doubt for months, he repeated on different occasions, and once more on Wednesday evening, the commitment made in 2023 not to run once more. Faced with one of the most serious political crises in recent decades, President Sall said he wanted to initiate a process of “appeasement and reconciliation”.

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