In Senegal, citizens are still waiting for a new date for the presidential election, originally scheduled for Sunday, February 25th. After the postponement of the vote, which was ultimately declared invalid by the Constitutional Council, President Macky Sall launched this Monday afternoon the national dialogue to find a way out of the crisis. In Diamniadio, around thirty kilometers from Dakar, the opening ceremony of the dialogue took place and Macky Sall made the first announcements.
Published on: February 26, 2024 – 8:36 p.m
2 minutes
With our special correspondent Diamniadio, Thea Ollivier
At around 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. UT) the President Macky Sall had just finished his opening statement. The big announcement was the amnesty project proposed on Wednesday. It will concern the facts surrounding the political demonstrations between 2021 and 2024. The aim is to pacify the political space in Senegal.
In his speech, the head of state also explained that the aim of the dialogue is to find a voting date as soon as possible, i.e. before the rainy season, which begins between June and July.
After the private audiences that took place earlier in the morning, the actors in attendance marched to the podium. Successful or unsuccessful presidential candidates, political parties, civil society, religious and traditional leaders all defended their position regarding the resumption of the electoral process and the date of the vote.
But there are also major absentees: 17 of the 19 candidates selected by the Constitutional Council boycotted the dialogue, including Idrissa Seck, Abdoulaye Wade's former prime minister. Sixteen of them appealed to the Constitutional Council early this morning to put pressure on the vote to take place before April 2, the date on which President Macky Sall's term ends.
Also read: Presidential election in Senegal: “The lost time must be taken into account to set a new date.”