Senegal's Constitutional Council strikes down 'unconstitutional' law delaying presidential election
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Senegal's Constitutional Council on Thursday struck down a controversial law that postponed the West African country's presidential election from 25 February to 15 December describing it as "unconstitutional".
The Council also cancelled the decree by President Macky Sall that repealed a law under which the election was scheduled for 25 February, the official Senegalese News Agency (APS) reported. President Sall's second term ends on 2 April.
“The law (arising) from the provisions of article 31 of the Constitution, adopted […] by the National Assembly in its session of February 5, 2024, is contrary to the Constitution,” the Constitutional Council, whose decision cannot be appealed against, said in their decision.
“The decree […] of February 3, 2024 repealing the decree summoning the electorate for the presidential election of February 25, 2024 is cancelled,” it added.
President Sall's decree to delay the election and subsequent adoption of a law by Parliament fixing 15 December as the new date for the polls was met by loud objections by the opposition and stoked violence in the streets in which a least three people were killed and scores arrested.
The initial bill called for the postponement of the election by six months but a late amendment postponed the election to 15 December.
The bill required three-fifths of the 165 deputies to be adopted but 105 MPs passed it plunging the country into a period of uncertainty.
"It is quite simply a constitutional coup d'état, orchestrated by the regime in place, in complicity with ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States), the European Union," said Biram Souleye Diop, the leader of the opposition parliamentary coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi.
MP and candidate for the presidential election, Thierno Alassane Sall, denounced the bill as "illegal".
On Thursday, many activists who had been detained for months on several charges were granted provisional release.
APS said members of the Constitutional Council received three separate petitions asking for the election to be held on 25 February as scheduled.
One of the requests was filed by 40 deputies, another came from 17 other deputies while the third was filed by several candidates.
Senegal’s parliament voted to delay the election to 15 December after a chaotic National Assembly session during which security forces removed opposition lawmakers.
Demonstrations broke out in the capital, Dakar, and several other cities after President Sall announced that presidential elections, slated for 25 February, would be delayed.
Human rights groups said elsewhere in the country, including Mbour, Mbacké, Tivaoune, Touba, Saint-Louis, and Ziguinchor, security forces apparently used excessive force to disperse protesters.
Last Tuesday, the Senegalese authorities cut the internet for the second time in one week and the Prefect of Dakar, Cherif Mouhamadou Blondin Ndiaye, banned a protest march on Tuesday that was called in tribute to three people who died during protests against the postponement of the election.
The march was called by an umbrella group, “Aar Sunu Election” (Protect our election, in the local Wolof language), APS reported.
The Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital, Moussa Bocar Thiam, said the internet was cut because of "the dissemination on social networks of several hateful and subversive messages ... that have caused violent demonstrations with deaths and significant material damage".
President Sall had justified his decision to delay the election by citing suspicions of corruption concerning magistrates among those who examined the 93 applications for election and deemed 20 of them admissible.
He called for “an open national dialogue, in order to create the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election in a peaceful Senegal”.
There was a flurry of diplomatic activity to avert a serious political crisis and violence.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, the United States, African Union Commission, European Commission and Gambia were among organisations and countries that expressed alarm at the crisis and called for the restoration of the electoral calendar.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed "serious concerns" about the political situation and urged President Sall to restore the electoral calendar and timeline for presidential transition in accordance with the constitution.
Mr. Blinken also voiced concern about heightened political tensions and the potential for further domestic and regional instability as a result of recent events.
A team from the ECOWAS Parliament on Monday started a series of meetings with stakeholders in Senegal in efforts to end the raging political crisis.
-0- PANA MA 16Feb2024
