The opposition in Senegal is calling for demonstrations on Sunday February 4 in Dakar and plans to launch the electoral campaign as planned, rejecting President Macky Sall's decision to postpone the presidential election from February 25, an unprecedented decision which sparked an outcry.

The announcement made on Saturday by the Senegalese president, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019, in a context of serious political crisis, also caused concern abroad.

It once again plunges this country, known as an island of stability in Africa, into the unknown, but which has experienced various episodes of deadly unrest since 2021.

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Also see our special edition: Senegal: the postponement of the presidential election by Macky Sall, “a political earthquake”

Calls to demonstrate

Several opposition candidates announced on Sunday to the press and on social networks that they would override President Macky Sall's decision and maintain the launch of their electoral campaign on Sunday.

“We systematically reject the decree (postponing the presidential election). We are meeting all Senegalese this Sunday for a march” in Dakar, declared Cheikh Tidiane Youm, a spokesperson for the opposition camp on private radio RFM.

“We met and agreed to gather from 3 p.m. (local and GMT) to start our campaign collectively,” declared, on the same radio, Habib Sy, one of the 20 candidates who were to compete in the poll postponed.

“All the active forces of the nation must organize, act and obtain the restoration of the Republican calendar,” wrote the intellectual Felwine Sarr in a column.

Senegalese opponent Khalifa Sall, one of the main presidential candidates, called on the entire country on Saturday to "stand up" against the postponement of the vote.

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“Democratic regression”

Former Prime Minister Aminata Touré denounced on social networks an “unprecedented democratic regression” and urged “democrats and citizens (to) mobilize to defend our democratic achievements”.

The indefinite postponement of the presidential election in Senegal, announced on Saturday by President Macky Sall, opens a "period of uncertainty", declared Sunday the spokesperson for the European Union, calling for elections to be held "in the as fast as we can".

 “The European Union (...) calls on all stakeholders to work, in a peaceful climate, to hold a transparent, inclusive and credible election, as soon as possible and in compliance with the rule of law , in order to preserve the long tradition of stability and democracy in Senegal,” added Nabila Massrali in a press release.

France, for its part, called on Senegal on Sunday to remove the “uncertainties” created by the postponement so that the vote could be held “as soon as possible”.

The United States, "deeply concerned" by the announcement of the postponement, had urged on Saturday "all participants in the Senegalese electoral process to engage peacefully in the important effort aimed at quickly setting a new date and the conditions for a free and fair election.

As for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it also expressed its “concern” and asked the authorities in a press release to work to quickly set a new date.

In Senegal, deputies are due to meet on Monday to examine the bill tabled by candidate and opponent Karim Wade for the postponement of the presidential election for six months, AFP learned on Saturday from Parliament. The text must be approved by 3/5ths of the 165 deputies to be validated.

Commission of inquiry into applications

President Sall announced on Saturday, a few hours before the official opening of the campaign, to repeal the decree setting the presidential election for February 25. This is the first time since 1963 that a presidential election by direct universal suffrage has been postponed in Senegal.

Many reactions highlighted the practice of democracy and alternation. Senegal has never experienced a coup d'état, a rarity on the continent, although they have followed one another in recent years in West Africa.

The Senegalese president justified this postponement by citing differences concerning candidacies and accusations of alleged corruption targeting two members of the Constitutional Council. He cited in particular the conflict which broke out between the Constitutional Council and the National Assembly after the final validation by the court of 20 candidacies and the elimination of several dozen others.

At the initiative of Karim Wade, a failed candidate who called into question the integrity of two constitutional judges and demanded the postponement of the election, the Assembly approved the creation of a commission of inquiry into the conditions of validation of applications.

Avoid defeat at all costs? 

Against all expectations, the deputies from the presidential camp supported the approach. It provoked a lively dispute over the separation of powers, but also fueled suspicion of a government plan to postpone the presidential election and avoid defeat. The candidate of the presidential camp, Prime Minister Amadou Ba, is contested within his own ranks and faces dissidents.

On the contrary, the anti-system Bassirou Diomaye Faye, whose candidacy was validated by the Constitutional Council although he has been imprisoned since 2023, has established himself in recent weeks as a credible candidate for victory, a nightmare scenario for the presidential camp.

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According to the electoral code, a decree setting the date of a new presidential election must be published no later than 80 days before the vote, which would lead to the end of April in the best case.

But in this scenario, Macky Sall risks still being in his post beyond the end of his mandate, on April 2.

With AFP

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