In Senegal, the electoral saga now seems close to the end.
After numerous twists and turns, the Constitutional Council finally aligned itself on Thursday with the date of March 24, announced the day before by Macky Sall, for the holding of the first round of the presidential election.
The Head of State immediately published the decree setting the electoral campaign period from March 9 to 22, i.e. a duration of 13 days.
The 19 candidates whose files had been validated for the February 25 election by the Constitutional Council find themselves in the running again.
The surprise announcement, on February 3, of the cancellation of the vote by the president, a few hours before the start of the campaign, then its postponement by the National Assembly until December 15, 2024, aroused strong anger in Senegal and plunged the country in a political crisis.
Deemed "contrary to the Constitution", this postponement was invalidated by the Constitutional Council, which also rejected this week the president's proposal, resulting from the "national dialogue", to bring forward the vote to June 2.
“The choice to organize the election on March 24 is consistent on the part of the judges, who had affirmed that the presidential election should take place before the official end of Macky Sall's mandate on April 2,” analyzes Gilles Yabi, political scientist and president from the Senegalese Wathi think tank.
“Today, attention must very quickly shift to the very organization of the vote, which will take place within an extremely tight deadline,” underlines the researcher.
A vote in the middle of religious holidays
On Wednesday, the announcement of the new date of the presidential election caused a mess.
The Constitutional Council initially affirmed that the first round would take place on March 31, responding to a request from 15 opposition parties, which had contacted it to impose a date.
On Thursday, it finally aligned with March 24.
“We can consider that the date of March 31 corresponded to a desire to have more time for the concrete organization of the vote on the one hand, and for the electoral campaign on the other,” deciphers Gilles Yabi.
“But it also corresponded to Easter, which was seen as a problem.”
Article 129 of the Senegalese electoral code sets the duration of the campaign at 21 days before the first round of voting.
But to avoid organizing the vote in the middle of a religious holiday, the president chose to reduce it.
“Even if Senegal has 5% Christians and 95% Muslims, the tradition is that the two communities celebrate this holiday together. The Christians invite the Muslims to the meal,” explains Pape Khouma, special advisor to the president.
“Out of respect for the Christian community but also for organizational reasons, it was complicated to organize the vote on this date.”
If the new date set for the vote does not interfere with the Easter holiday, the presidential campaign coincides with the month of Ramadan, which must begin on March 10.
The initial delay in voting until December 15 was calculated to allow this Muslim holiday to pass and then avoid the rainy season, from July to November.
“Ramadan poses a difficulty, it must be recognized,” says Pape Khouma.
“The candidates will have to rearrange their schedule in an already shorter campaign time to respect the breaking of the fast at 7 p.m., but we will adapt.”
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Accelerated organization
At the logistical level, the sudden rapprochement of the electoral calendar again poses many questions.
It comes as Macky Sall dissolved the government on Wednesday and appointed Interior Minister Sidiki Kaba – responsible for organizing the elections – to the post of Prime Minister in place of Amadou Ba, so that the government candidate can the presidential candidate can campaign.
“The good organization of the vote is essential to guarantee its credibility,” recalls researcher Gilles Yabi.
“This requires several criteria such as reliable electoral lists, the most precise information possible on voting locations or even the possibility for candidates to ensure that their representatives are present in the polling stations. The tight deadlines should not harm this organization."
On the operational level, “everything is ready”, maintains Pape Khouma.
“Before the postponement of the vote, the material had already been sent, including to consulates abroad,” he said, confident that the vote would go well.
A political debate “absorbed” by the political crisis
Within the team of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, candidate chosen by Ousmane Sonko's camp after the invalidation of his candidacy, the announcement of this election arouses "frantic relief".
“Reducing campaign time is a painful but necessary compromise to protect Senegalese democracy,” says Amadou Ba, representative of the opposition candidate.
“The infrastructure is ready and the parties are sufficiently prepared because the cancellation of the vote took place on the eve of the start of the campaign.”
This close advisor to Bassirou Diomaye Faye nevertheless judges that the political crisis of recent weeks has greatly harmed the substantive discussions.
“The political debate has been totally absorbed by the battle around the election date,” he laments.
“This is our biggest regret with this presidential election, we lost a lot of time and there is little left for voters to appreciate the relevance of the programs.”
Amadou Ba now hopes that Bassirou Diomaye Faye will be released as quickly as possible to campaign.
In preventive detention since April 2023, he was charged with “acts likely to compromise public peace”, “contempt of court” and “defamation”.
He should benefit from the amnesty law linked to political violence in recent years, adopted Wednesday by the National Assembly.
Read alsoThe postponement of the presidential election in Senegal, a “huge waste of money” for entrepreneurs
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