Senegal witnessed protests after the elections scheduled for last February were postponed (Reuters)

Dakar -

Less than a week later, Senegal will witness decisive presidential elections, which come after an unprecedented political crisis that almost ravaged the stability of the country, which for decades constituted an exception in its regional neighborhood in the West African region in terms of democratic practice and state institutions.

The current March 24 elections are important because they are the first elections held without the participation of the country’s president, which raises the level of competitiveness among the 19 candidates and makes it difficult to predict the name of the fifth president. They also come in the context of rapid internal and external transformations that Senegal and the region are witnessing and are casting their weight on the political scene. .

The decision to decide the date of the elections marked the end of weeks of tension in the Senegalese street following President Macky Sall’s decision to cancel the original date that was scheduled for February 25, which resulted in the outbreak of protests that witnessed the killing of a number of demonstrators.

Prominent oppositionist Ousman Sonko was excluded from the list of candidates for the presidential elections due to his conviction for defamation (Reuters)

Additional challenge

The opposition saw Sall's attempts to postpone the electoral date more than once as a maneuver to "gain time" and "extend" his presidential term, which expires constitutionally on April 2, while the Senegalese president stated that he does not intend to remain in office and is ready to hand over power.

Setting the new presidential election date prompted the reduction of the electoral campaign period from three weeks to two, which places on the candidates an additional challenge represented by the need to intensify their political propaganda in light of the intense competition for voters’ votes.

The electoral race in Senegal is led by competitors, the most prominent of whom is the candidate of the ruling “Bino Bock Yakar” coalition, former Prime Minister Adma Ba, and Basserou Diomaye Faye, the candidate of the opposition coalition that includes members of the dissolved “Pasteif” party, who was nominated as an alternative to the prominent oppositionist Ousmane Sonko, after the latter was excluded from the election. List of candidates due to his defamation conviction.

It also includes former Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall, who is considered one of the most prominent political rivals of the current president, and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, who came in second place in the 2007 presidential elections.

The youth vote in the current presidential elections is seen as a decisive factor in a country where more than half of the population is under 20 years old, and which is witnessing transformations in the level of political discourse, with young names coming to the fore, competing with older generations of Senegalese politicians.

Domestic policy priorities combine with the preoccupations of Senegal's foreign relations in drawing the map of electoral competition, with a prominent presence of economic promises in the coastal country, which is looking forward to soon starting to extract natural gas from the "Turtle Ahmim" field shared with Mauritania.

Candidate Idrissa Seck came in second place in the 2007 presidential elections (Getty)

Inside bets

Senegal enters the presidential elections while it is still experiencing the repercussions of the bloody unrest it witnessed between 2021 and 2023, which included trials and arrests of political opponents of power, in light of the growing voice of opposition among young people.

Political science researcher Haroun Ba believes that the pivotal nature of these elections lies in the fact that they represent an opportunity for Senegal to restore its democratic reputation once again, and restore peace with the end of the series of unrest and political conflicts between the government and the opposition, which "have exhausted many forces and caused the country to lose lives."

He considers that reducing the president's powers comes at the forefront of internal policy issues that forcefully impose themselves on electoral programs. He says, "In Senegal, like most other African countries, there is a crisis of the executive authority's dominance over the rest of the authorities, which hinders the democratic path. I believe that all politicians have paid attention to this issue." They promise to reduce these powers upon reaching power.”

Haroun Ba adds, "This is an existing crisis and represents the root of the problems in the Senegalese political system. Through it, the president can always impose what he wants in the name of his powers and competencies."

He believes that reforming institutions strongly imposes itself as an electoral demand in the current competition between candidates, noting that "the justice facility needs radical reform, because it is the people's refuge from conflicts, tensions and exhaustion."

He stresses that the issue of youth employment is no less important, especially in light of the economic and development aspirations pinned on promises to produce and export natural gas.

Regional changes

The presidential elections are accompanied by the outcome of major political and geostrategic changes that have been ravaging Senegal’s regional neighborhood in the Sahel region for years, most notably the change of regimes in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea, and the resulting rapprochement with Russia at the expense of the former colonizer France, whose military and political influence has declined. in the region rapidly.

The researcher specializing in political science, Didi Ould Salek, believes that these variables are having an impact on the political discourse in the Senegalese elections, especially among youth candidates, who are mainly represented by Basserou Diomay Faye, an ally of the Senegalese oppositionist Ousmane Sonko, according to his description.

He says that the impact of regional and international changes in Senegal's neighborhood "will be exploited as political rhetoric in the campaign by all parties," ruling out that it will have a future impact on the country's foreign policy.

Ould Salek adds that Dakar has "established institutions and a relatively mature political class compared to other African countries, especially in the Sahel region," suggesting that the current elections will lead to the victory of the power candidate or "one of the regime's sons" among the former officials and ministers.

Regardless of the results of the upcoming March 24 vote, which observers are likely to result in a runoff in light of the high competition between the candidates, these elections represent a decisive turning point in Senegal’s modern history, consolidating its image in the region and the continent as a model of democracy and political stability.

Source: Al Jazeera