In a significant display of civic engagement, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on Saturday, demanding that the country’s presidential elections take place before April 2, marking the end of incumbent Macky Sall’s term. The West African nation plunged into a political crisis on February 3 when Sall postponed the scheduled presidential election set for February 25.
The postponement, labeled a “constitutional coup d’etat” by the opposition, triggered widespread protests resulting in four fatalities. Despite the upheaval, the constitutional council eventually overruled Sall. However, the country has been in suspense, awaiting the announcement of a new election date.
The “Resistance Front,” a coalition comprising opposition parties and civil society groups, orchestrated Saturday’s protests. On a sandy lot in a working-class neighborhood, demonstrators waved Senegalese flags and displayed portraits of the incarcerated opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko. Sonko, detained since July on charges of “incitement to insurrection,” has thrown his support behind Bassirou Diomaye Faye, also in jail but approved as a presidential candidate.
Chanting slogans such as “Macky Sall dictator” and “Free Sonko,” the crowd passionately expressed their demands. Aminata Toure, a former Prime Minister and member of the “Bassirou President” coalition, conveyed the sentiment, stating, “What we are asking President Macky Sall is to organize these elections before April 2 and to hand over the keys to the palace to his successor face to face, so that we can begin to rebuild our country.”
Earlier in the week, a national dialogue initiated by the president, though boycotted by the opposition, proposed holding the elections on June 2. President Sall hinted at seeking the constitutional council’s opinion on this suggestion, further contributing to the political uncertainty gripping the nation.
