2024-02-12 14:28:44
President Macky Sall’s decision to postpone the presidential election scheduled for February 25, 2024 to an indefinite date is causing a real shock wave in Senegal. The opposition and part of the population took to the streets this Sunday to shout their anger and demand the departure of the head of state, accused of “constitutional coup”.
It is an understatement to say that the mid-week announcement of the postponement of the elections had the effect of a bomb in the country. By invoking simple “technical reasons” as well as a strong risk of “ troubles » on the day of the vote, Macky Sall ignited the powder with a decision seen as authoritarian and undemocratic by opponents and a large part of civil society.
This Sunday, February 4, thousands of Senegalese took to the streets in the capital Dakar as in other large cities, to condemn this measure which postpones indefinitely an election that the opposition approached with confidence, convinced of being able to beat the candidate of Sall thanks to a broad anti-power coalition.
« Macky Sall must leave! »« Down with dictatorship!“, chanted the protesters, brandishing the Green-Gold-Red national flag. “This president no longer has popular legitimacy. He must organize the election on the due date or leave power”was indignant Pape Modou Fall, civil society activist.
The arrest of former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, who participated in the opposition demonstration, only reinforced the already high tension. This escalation risks leading to a major political and social crisis in a country usually considered an island of stability in West Africa…