Senegal - update

 

Senegalese continue to demand presidential polls amid uncertainty

Senegalese voters should have been the first Africans to head to the polls on Sunday 25 February, for a key presidential election for West Africa. But the President plunged the country into uncertainty by deciding to postpone the vote only 22 days before the date. Now, voters eagerly await for a new date and are determined to defend their democracy.

A third of Africa will head to the polls in 2024, with at major issues on the line in at least 18 countries, from South Africa in May to Rwanda in July, but also coup-hit Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso – if the junta leaders in those countries stay true to their word, and Ghana then Algeria in December.

The first of these elections was supposed to take place in Senegal on 25 February but President Macky Sall decided otherwise.

Since 3 February, and his unilateral decision to postpone the polls, the country has been living through uncertainty.

First, the majority in Parliament voted on December as a new date, which was highly contested by the opposition and civil society.

Then the Constitutional Council invalidated the president's decision altogether.

Nineteen candidates, no date

In the latest events, the Constitutional Council on Tuesday published an amended list of candidates for the election, removing just one candidate from the initial list, Rose Wardini, after she herself withdrew her application.

No clear frontrunner has emerged yet, with an unprecedented number of candidates bidding to become Senegal's next president.

But Pastef's vice-president, Birame Souleye Diop, said that pre-election polls gave the party some 71 percent of the vote.

Yet, the new date remains undecided, and thousands of Senegalese vowed to demonstrate again and again until a new electoral process is in place.

Macky Sall's mandate ends on 2 April, and the Senegalese constitution states that the presidential election should take place before he leaves power, and that he should not stay in place after this date.

This week, opposition candidates have accused the authorities of "dragging their feet on setting a new date".

In a joint statement late on Tuesday, 16 of the 19 presidential contenders complained about an "inexplicable slowness" enacting the council's ruling.

They said the slow resumption of electoral operations showed Sall's unwillingness to launch a process that would lead to a change of power.

Members of civil society want to hold a great march on Sunday 25 February to pressure the government.

Some candidates and analysts suggested 3 March as a new date.

But time is running out.

Democracy at stake

In his New Year address, president Sall had called for peaceful elections after a year marked by violence.

He blamed the opposition for this, but NGOs like Human Rights Watch (HRW), Reporters Without Borders, and Amnesty International repeatedly showed that the Senegalese authorities had been increasingly repressing opposition leaders, media and civil society, since 2021.

Last year saw a complicated legal battle for Ziguinchor mayor Ousmane Sonko, who ended up in jail in July, and lost his right to run.

His newly chosen candidate for his former party (Pastef, dissolved by the authorities), Bassirou Diomaye Faye, is however still in prison.

Since 15 February, in a move to appease the opposition, the government has released 344 people considered as political prisoners by their parties.

The Minister of Justice Aïssata Tall Sall told RFI that "others should follow".

But she added that, even though civil society is "calling for the release of Ousmane Sonko", liberations are treated "case by case", and "without any bias, without being arbitrary".

Elected for the first time in 2012, Macky Sall had campaigned against his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade, as an outsider ready to defend democracy at any point and to always respect the constitution.

Now, he's regularly accused of trying to hang on to the presidency.

He announced on Wednesday evening he would speak to the media on Thursday at 7pm GMT. He'll be live on the national broadcaster RTS, on iTV and on Seneweb for an hour, answering questions from journalists.