The President of Senegal postpones the February 25 presidential election indefinitely
President Macky Sall of Senegal has announced the indefinite postponement of the presidential election scheduled for February 25, a few hours before the official campaign begins.
In his address to the nation on Saturday, Sall said he had signed an order to stop the previous step that set the date, because lawmakers were investigating two judges of the Constitutional Council whose integrity in the electoral process had been questioned. "I will initiate an open national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, open and inclusive election," Sall explained without giving a new date for the election. It is the first time that the presidential election of Senegal has been postponed. The decision has come following a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court regarding the rejection of candidates. Ousmane Sonko The November 2023 decree signed by Sall set the date for the presidential election as February 25, with 20 candidates in the running but excluding the two main opposition leaders. Sall has announced several times that he would hand over power in early April to the winner of the election. After announcing that he would not run for a third term as president, Sall nominated Prime Minister Amadou Ba from his party as his successor. The Constitutional Council has removed some candidates from the race, including opposition leader and strong opponent of the Senegalese government Ousmane Sonko, who has been imprisoned since July 2023, and Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade. Wade's supporters in the National Assembly wanted a parliamentary investigation to be held regarding the bias of two judges of the Constitutional Court, and the motion was passed by the Assembly on January 31 and supported by some members of President Sall's party as well.../
