Senegal Constitutional Council agrees to March 24 election

The Senegal Constitutional Council said Thursday it had agreed to hold the delayed presidential election on March 24 in line with the outgoing president’s suggestion.

The council on Wednesday scheduled the election for March 31, while President Macky Sall, who had called off the original polling day of February 25, set a new date for a week before.

The Senegal Constitutional Council said in a statement on Thursday that it had “compensated for the inertia of the administration” by announcing a March 31 election date,  but suggested that in the meantime the executive remedied the situation by issuing decrees convening the electoral body on March 24.

The decrees issued by Sall “comply with (the) requirement” to organise the ballot before the end of his mandate on April 2, said the Council.

The move should ease the crisis triggered by Sall’s delay to the presidential poll.

Sall, in power since 2012, said he called off the vote due to disputes over the disqualification of potential candidates and fears of a return to the unrest seen in 2021 and 2023.

The delay triggered uproar at home and abroad and unleashed protests which left four people dead.

The traditionally stable West African nation is now re-embarking on what is perhaps its most open presidential vote in modern history.

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