Senegal waits as the Assembly debates the postponement of the presidential election
While mobile Internet is now suspended in Senegal and the gendarmes dispersed attempts to gather in front of the National Assembly this Monday morning, the latter is examining this February 5, 2024 in Dakar the proposed law on a six-month postponement of the presidential election. Report sine die announced on February 3 by the country's president, Macky Sall.
Senegalese police officers blocking the roads leading to the General Assembly at Plateau, in Dakar, February 5, 2024. AFP - JOHN WESSELS
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With our correspondent in Dakar,
Léa-Lisa Westerhoff
Senegal
is holding its breath: two days after President Macky Sall's announcement to postpone the
presidential election without a new date,
the
National Assembly must in fact examine on February 5, 2024 a proposed law on the postponement of the vote.
A plenary which has already been briefly suspended. A suspension of a few minutes because the opposition deputies asked to introduce a preliminary question, which was refused.
Around twenty parliamentarians then immediately stood up, brandishing the internal regulations of the National Assembly and crying out for injustice, a sign of the electric atmosphere that reigns there.
Opposition MPs denounce an institutional coup
The opposition is up against this bill which de facto extends the mandate of Macky Sall, president of the country since 2012.
The text, which must be debated this Monday, contains two crucial articles: a derogation from the Constitution which would postpone the election by 6 months, to August 25; and a second article which requests that Macky Sall continue his functions as president until the installation of his successor.
And this is the crux of the problem: the date of April 2 as the deadline for the end of the president's mandate does not appear in this bill, which opens the possibility of postponing the election for much more than 6 months and President Macky Sall to remain in power well beyond his mandate.
For opposition MPs, this is out of the question. They denounce an institutional coup d'état.
The debates are therefore likely to be particularly lively within the hemicycle, even if the text has every chance of being adopted. Because, with the support of Karim Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and the ruling coalition, they have a sufficient quorum.
Mobile internet cut
At the same time, in the street too, tension rose a notch. Mobile Internet has been cut since this morning. The Ministry of Communication justifies itself by talking about calls for hatred circulating on the networks and the risk of disturbances to public order.
Around Parliament, dozens of gendarmes patrol the area to prevent any gathering. And even access to the National Assembly is more complicated than usual, with police equipped with batons deployed even within the Parliament grounds.
Finally, in town, on the axis which passes through the shopping district of the medina, at each roundabout, we could see armored police vehicles equipped with water lances.
Another example, in the Les Parcelles Assainies district where clashes between young people and the police broke out the day before. Schools were closed this Monday morning for fear of further unrest
Read alsoPostponement of the Senegalese presidential election: “I have no words to describe it,” says former minister Abdou Latif Coulibaly
Postponement of the Senegalese Presidential election: what reactions do religious authorities have to this political decision?
It is in this political context that President Macky Sall sent this Sunday, February 4, a ministerial delegation to Touba, the capital of the very powerful Mouride community. The Caliph General, who heads this community, has not yet commented on the political situation.
These are two loyalists of President Macky Sall, Sidiki Kaba and Oumar Youm, respectively Minister of the Interior and the Armed Forces, who were dispatched to Touba to meet Serigne Mountakha.
The authorities indicated that the purpose of this visit was to detail the decision taken by the head of state who always gave credence to the words of the Caliph General. The powerful brotherhood, which also has old links with the former head of state Abdoulaye Wade (2000-2012), did not react following this meeting.
For its part, in a long press release, the League of Imans and Preachers of Senegal (Lips) called on President Macky Sall to renounce “
this catastrophic initiative
” to postpone the presidential election, reports
Guillaume Thibault
. Lips evokes an “
institutional coup d'état in the making
” and concludes: “
This unfortunate declaration by the head of state disrupted the electoral process and broke with the democratic tradition that our country knew.
» Finally, the Archbishop of Dakar, Monsignor Benjamin Ndiaye, who said he was “
baffled by the situation
” called for respect for institutions.
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