After having previously postponed the presidential election, Senegal’s President Macky Sall has rescheduled the postponed presidential election for March 24, the administration announced on Wednesday, after a high court ruled that holding the vote at the end of his term on April 2 would be unconstitutional.
The declaration came at the end of a drama-filled evening in which Sall dissolved the government and replaced Prime Minister Amadou Ba with Interior Minister Sidiki Kaba so that Ba, the governing coalition’s presidential candidate, could focus on his electoral campaign.
Earlier, the Constitutional Council had determined that a national discussion commission’s suggestion for a vote on June 2 was unconstitutional.
The decision is the latest twist in a months-long electoral crisis that has generated violent upheaval and raised concerns among Senegal’s international supporters about the country’s reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.
Opposition presidential candidate Anta Babacar welcomed the revised date, and like the majority of the race’s 19 contestants, wanted the voting to take place as soon as possible.
The upheaval stems from the government’s unsuccessful attempt in early February to postpone the February 25 election to December. Sall justified the decision citing worries about election disputes, but others in the opposition saw it as an attempted institutional coup.
On Wednesday evening, parliament approved an amnesty measure offered by Sall in an effort to alleviate tensions while he navigated the deadlock with the opposition.
The proposed legislation may grant amnesty to hundreds of protesters and opposition members accused of crimes related to anti-government protests within the last three years, but it will also likely absolve security forces of responsibility for excessive and sometimes lethal use of force against protesters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Tuesday.
HRW reports that at least 40 individuals have been murdered in violent conflicts since March 2021, with no accountability.
Much of the political turbulence was sparked by allegations that Sall was attempting to silence his opponents and maintain power beyond the end of his term, a claim he has rejected.