the presidential election of February 25 postponed indefinitely | EUROtoday

In abstract, the long-awaited presidential election on the finish of February is postponed indefinitely. It have to be mentioned that rumors of postponement of the vote have been rising in Senegal for the reason that publication of the checklist of candidates by the Constitutional Council on January 20. “My solemn commitment not to run in the presidential election remains unchanged,” insisted Macky Sall. Elected in 2012 for seven years and re-elected in 2019 for 5 years, he introduced final July that he didn’t wish to run for a 3rd time period. This is the primary time since 1963 {that a} presidential election by direct common suffrage has been postponed in Senegal.

A parliamentary fee of inquiry into the electoral course of

According to info from the Senegalese press company (APS), “the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) requested and obtained the institution of a parliamentary fee of inquiry after the invalidation of Karim Wade's candidacy for workplace. presidential election as a consequence of twin nationality. The get together of ex-President Wade has, in reality, issued accusations of alleged corruption towards sure members of the Constitutional Council, liable for analyzing candidacies for this election. In a press launch, the PDS, which leads a parliamentary group made up of 27 deputies, out of the 165 within the National Assembly, introduced that it had submitted “to the National Assembly a bill for the postponement of the presidential election scheduled for February 25. This bill will make it possible to repair the damage suffered by more than 40 candidates excluded from the presidential election.

In his radio and television message, President Macky Sall returned to this “open conflict”, this “dispute” between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council, against the backdrop of a supposed “case of corruption of judges”.

However, in a press release published on January 29 and signed by all its members, the Constitutional Council “refuted the allegations made against it, while taking into account the seriousness of the accusations, and ensuring that all light is shed made in compliance with the constitutional and legal procedures governing relations between institutions, in particular the separation of powers and the status of its members.

“To this sufficiently serious and confusing situation was added the controversy over a candidate whose dual nationality was discovered after the publication of the final list of candidates by the Constitutional Council,” noted the Head of State, referring to the case of candidate Rose Wardini, “which constitutes a violation of article 28 of the Constitution which supplies that 'any candidate for the presidency of the Republic have to be solely of Senegalese nationality'”, added Macky Sall. According to the President of the Republic, these “troubled conditions could seriously harm the credibility of the election by creating the seeds of pre- and post-electoral disputes”.

Risk of “troubles”

Twenty candidates were in the running for the next presidential election, but the two opposition leaders, Karim Wade and Ousmane Sonko, had been rejected, as well as around thirty others. “While it still bears the scars of the violent demonstrations of March 2021 and June 2023, our country cannot afford a new crisis”, not to mention “that in my capacity as President of the Republic, guarantor of the regular functioning institutions, and respectful of the separation of powers, I cannot intervene in the conflict between the legislative power and the judicial power,” added Macky Sall. He informed that the National Assembly, “acting by virtue of its prerogatives”, requested it for opinion, in accordance with its internal regulations, of a proposed constitutional law under emergency procedure derogating from the provisions of the Article 31 of the Constitution. President Sall said he took note of “this referral after consulting the President of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the President of the High Council of Local Authorities, the President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council and the President of the Constitutional Council “. He concluded his speech by asserting the holding of “an open nationwide dialogue, so as to create the circumstances for a free, clear and inclusive election in a peaceable and reconciled Senegal”.