- Senegal’s leaders have proposed holding elections in early June after President Macky Sall’s attempts to postpone them were rejected.
- President Sall, facing term limits, postponed the election for 10 months, a measure rejected by the Constitutional Council.
- A two-day national dialogue aimed at building trust between candidates and the public was held, but most candidates boycotted it.
A group of Senegal’s civil and religious leaders has proposed holding elections in early June, the first new date proposed since the president tried to postpone elections to the end of the year.
President Macky Sall, who is facing term limits at the end of his second term, announced in early February that he would postpone the election by 10 months, weeks before the election was scheduled for February 25.
However, Senegal’s highest electoral authority, the Constitutional Council, rejected the move and ordered the government to set a new election date as soon as possible.
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Sall called for a two-day national dialogue earlier this week aimed at fostering trust between candidates and the public. Civic, political and religious leaders attended, but nearly all of the candidates on the ballot refused to participate. On Tuesday, the committee recommended holding a vote on June 2.
Demonstrators protest President Macky Sall’s decision to postpone the vote due to election disputes between parliament and the judiciary over some candidates in Dakar, Senegal, on February 9, 2024. Senegal’s National Dialogue Committee has proposed holding elections in early June. It is the first time a new date has been proposed since the president tried to postpone the election until the end of the year. (AP Photo/Stefan Kleinnowitz, File)
Sall has said he will step down by the end of his current term on April 2, but it is unclear who will replace him if no election is held by then.
Senegal has long been considered a stable democracy, rare in a region prone to coups. Voting delays sparked deadly protests across the country.
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The committee called on the Constitutional Council to reconsider its decision to block candidates from voting, including opposition leader Karim Wade, son of former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade.
Election officials disqualified Wade because he previously held dual citizenship. He renounced his French citizenship to run for office.
Mr Sall defended the decision to postpone the elections, but accepted the council’s ruling and sought to calm the situation. He said at the start of the dialogue that he would propose an amnesty law to deal with the protests that have seen hundreds of people jailed.
It was not immediately clear who would be released if the amnesty was passed, or how it would affect popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who is currently in prison.
