By Emmanuel Nduka
Hours to the official start of campaigns, Senegalese President Macky Sall on Saturday announced an indefinite postponement of the presidential election slated for February 25.
In a national address, Sall said he signed a decree abolishing a previous measure that set the date as lawmakers investigate two Constitutional Council judges whose integrity in the election process has been questioned.
“I will begin an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election,” Sall said, but did not give a new date.
This is the first time a Senegalese presidential election has been postponed.
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Heritage Times HT recalls that a November 2023 decree signed by Sall fixed the election for February 25, 2024, with 20 candidates in the running but without two major opposition figures.
Sall had repeatedly said he would hand over power in early April to the winner of the vote.
After announcing he would not run for a third term as president, Sall designated Prime Minister Amadou Ba from his party as his would-be successor.
The Constitutional Council has excluded dozens of candidates from the vote, including firebrand anti-system figurehead Ousmane Sonko and Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade.
AFP
