A citizen collective announced Thursday, February 29, the creation of a common front with the political opposition for the organization of the presidential election before April 2, the official date of the end of the mandate of Senegalese President Macky Sall. “This unity of action must make it possible to carry out collective actions, in synergy to avoid the dispersion of the forces fighting against the current coup,” specifies the civil society platform Aar Sunu Election (“Let us protect our election”) in a press release.
Aar Sunu Election announces its junction with the Front of candidates for the presidential election of February 25, which brings together 16 of the 19 candidates, the opposition coalition F24 and the Front for the Defense of Democracy. Earlier in the morning, Senegalese President Macky Sall reaffirmed that he would leave on April 2, appearing to reject one of the recommendations of a forum at his initiative boycotted by almost the entire opposition.
The findings of a “national dialogue” held Monday and Tuesday recommended that the presidential election be held on June 2, two months after the official end of his term, and that the president remain in office until the inauguration of his successor. The head of state, elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019 but not a candidate in 2024, indicated on Wednesday during a council of ministers that he would seek the opinion of the Constitutional Council on these recommendations.
An unprecedented situation and a legal void
Macky Sall reaffirmed Thursday that the date of his departure remains “absolutely firm”, while the opposition suspects him of wanting to stay in power after his announcement of the postponement of the presidential election which caused one of the most serious political crises in the country since independence.
“The national dialogue proposed June 2, 2024 as the new date for presidential elections in Senegal. I thank the active forces for these meetings. However, I would like to clarify that I will leave office at the end of my term on April 2, as I have already indicated,” he wrote. Macky Sall has said several times in recent days that he will leave on April 2. But he opened the way for an extension on Monday evening by declaring that he was ready “to stay again even if it is not my choice (…) because I am in a hurry to finish it and leave”.
A postponement of the vote to June 2 and a departure of President Sall on April 2 would open the way to an unprecedented situation and a legal vacuum under the Constitution, which does not provide for this scenario. “Faced with this situation which risks plunging our country into indescribable social instability, the platform has decided to intensify the fight,” said Aar Sunu Election.
According to her, Macky Sall “persists in his refusal to respect the Republican calendar and constitutional legality”. The Senegalese president announced at the beginning of February, a few hours before the start of the electoral campaign, the indefinite postponement of the presidential election which was to be held on February 25, opening a period of great instability. Demonstrations against the postponement, violently repressed by security forces, left four dead.
