As I’ve been reporting for The BFD, Senegal, formerly one of the few stable democracies in Africa, has been steadily sliding into violent misrule. At the heart of the unrest is the decision by incumbent president Macky Sall to postpone the elections due in February, for a proposed 10 months.
That decision sparked protests, descending into riots, in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. The government responded with tear gas and a blackout of the private TV channel Walf followed by an mobile internet blackout across the country. Opposition leader and former prime minister Aminata Toure was arrested. Several protesters were killed in spreading violence.
For a while, it seemed that Senegal was teetering on the edge of civil war.
The country may be pulling back from the brink, as the nation’s National Assembly overrules President Sall, and announces a new election date, well ahead of his proposed 10-month postponement.
The Senegalese government has set March 24 as the new date for the country’s delayed presidential election, according to an official statement issued Wednesday after a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
President Macky Sall, who faces term limits at the end of his second period in office, said in early February that he was postponing an election for 10 months, just weeks before it was set to take place on Feb 25.
But Senegal’s highest election authority, the Constitutional Council, rejected that move and ordered the government to set a new election date as soon as possible.
“The President of the Republic informed the Council of Ministers of the setting of the date of the presidential election for Sunday March 24, 2024,” government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana said in the statement. “The President of the Republic also informed the Prime Minister and ministers of the formation of a new Government.”
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Senegalese civic and religious leaders had earlier proposed holding elections in June. After the Constitutional Council ordered a new election date, asap, Sall began the peace offerings.
Sall called for a two-day national dialogue earlier this week, aiming at fostering trust among the candidates and the population. Civil, political and religious leaders attended, but almost all of the candidates on the ballot refused to participate. On Tuesday, the panel proposed holding the vote on June 2.
Sall has said that he will step down by April 2, which is the end of his current term, but it’s unclear who will take over if elections are not held before that.
If nothing else, then, Sall is stepping back from his apparent earlier determination to declare himself yet another African “president-for-life”.
The panel called for the Constitutional Council to review decisions that blocked candidates including Karim Wade, an opposition leader and son of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, from the ballot.
The election authority disqualified Wade because he previously held dual citizenship. He renounced his French nationality in order to run.
Sall has defended his decision to delay elections, but has accepted the Council’s ruling and attempted to calm the situation. At the launch of the dialogue he said he would propose a general amnesty law addressing the protests, in which hundreds of people were jailed.
It wasn’t immediately clear who would be freed if the amnesty was enacted or how it might affect Ousmane Sonko, a popular opposition leader who is currently in jail.
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Hopefully, Senegal will regain its democratic stability. Lord knows, Africa needs it.
