Campaign for Senegal's delayed presidential vote fixed for 9-22 March
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Campaign for Senegal's 24 March presidential election would be from 9-22 March, according to a decree signed on Thursday by President Macky Sall.
The Senegalese Press Agency (APS) said following the confirmation of the Constitutional Council of the date for the first round of the election, "the electoral campaign begins on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at midnight and ends on Friday, March 22 at midnight".
There are 19 candidates contesting the first round of election. In the event that none of the candidates obtains the required 50%+1 vote, the constitution provides for a run-off after three weeks.
President Macky Sall announced on Wednesday that the postponed election would be held on 24 March.
APS said that President Sall told the Council of Ministers meeting that he selected 24 March for the first round of the election after the Constitutional Council ruled that holding the vote after 2 April, the date marking the end of his second term, was contrary to the Constitution.
The election was scheduled for 25 February, but President Sall issued a decree postponing it citing suspicions of corruption concerning some magistrates who examined the applications of 93 people to contest the vote.
Parliament then voted to delay the election until 15 December in a chaotic session during which security forces removed opposition lawmakers. The Constitutional Court declared Parliament's vote unconstitutional.
APS said the Constitutional Council ruled that President Sall "cannot remain in office beyond April 2".
It also maintained the 19 candidates already selected to contest the election.
The National Dialogue convened by President Sall had proposed 2 June for the election but the Constitutional Council said that date, which is two months after the expiration of his current and last mandate, "has no legal basis either in the electoral law ... and that the resumption of the electoral process already underway does not justify such a postponement".
"The President of the Republic cannot, in the absence of a text expressly authorising him to do so, set the date of the election beyond the end of his mandate," it ruled, stressing that this would create an institutional vacuum not provided for by the Constitution.
President Sall has repeatedly said he would leave office at the end of his mandate on 2 April, saying he has refused "to be tempted by a third term".
Following the decree postponing the election, demonstrations broke out in the capital, Dakar, as well as Mbour, Mbacké, Tivaoune, Touba, Saint-Louis, and Ziguinchor, with security forces apparently using excessive force to disperse protesters. The internet was cut off for several days. At least three people died in the protests.
There was international condemnation of President Sall's decision and a flurry of diplomatic activities to ease tension in the country with the President pledging to abide by the verdict of the Constitutional Council.
Meanwhile, President Sall on Wednesday dissolved the government and appointed Sidki Kaba as Prime Minister, replacing Amadou Ba. Sidki Kaba was Minister of the Interior and Public Security in the dissolved government.
Amadou Ba is the candidate of the ruling coalition, Benno Bokk Yaakaar, in 24 March vote.
APS also said Parliament on Wednesday adopted a bill providing a general amnesty for acts of violence linked to politics, occurring between February 2021 and February 2024.
APS noted that many people lost their lives or were injured during violent demonstrations since the initiation of legal proceedings against opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, accused of “repetitive rapes and death threats” by a female employee of a massage parlor in Dakar.
-0- PANA MA 8March2024
