Senegal : Macky Sall Hails Election Delay Decisions

On Sunday March 24, 2024, voters in Senegal will go to the polls to elect a new President. Ahead of the highly-awaited democratic exercise, the outgoing President, Macky Sall on Tuesday March 19, 2024, threw more light on his decision to delay the election. According to the Senegalese President, the decision to delay the vote was not taken unilaterally, but was due to electoral concerns raised by Members of Parliament. “I have no apology to make, I have done nothing wrong. I am speaking to you as President of the Republic. All the actions that have been taken have been within the framework of the law and regulations,” President Sall said.
He told the BBC he does not regret delaying this year's election, a move that sparked deadly protests. “I have no apology to make, I have done nothing wrong," President Sall reiterated to the BBC. After a violent backlash, many feared the relatively stable nation was slipping into political crisis. But the attempt to push the election back by 10 months was blocked by Senegal’s Constitutional Council.
With just three weeks to go before the 25 February 2024 election, Mr Sall announced that it would be delayed, a move that was later approved by Parliament. But critics accused Mr Sall of trying to stay on beyond his term of office, which the President denied. He argued that the delay was needed to resolve a dispute over the eligibility of presidential candidates. “If it had not been for the National Assembly which passed the law, which referred it to me, there would not have been the postponement of the election,” he said. After the announcement that sparked violent clashes between police and protesters, in which three people died, many feared that Senegal's reputation as a bas...