Date set for delayed presidential election in Senegal

The Senegalese government has set March 24 as the new date for the country’s delayed presidential election.

President Macky Sall, who should be coming to the end of his second and final period in office, said in early February that he was postponing an election for 10 months, just weeks before it was set to take place on February 25.

But Senegal’s highest election authority, the Constitutional Council, rejected that move and ordered the government to set a new election date as soon as possible.

“The President of the Republic informed the Council of Ministers of the setting of the date of the presidential election for Sunday March 24 2024,” government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana said in a statement.

“The President of the Republic also informed the Prime Minister and ministers of the formation of a new Government.”

Prime Minister Amadou Ba, an election frontrunner who has been endorsed by the outgoing president, was replaced by Sidiki Kaba who was the interior minister.

Wednesday’s announcement came as news broke that the Constitutional Council had rejected a proposal by civil, political and religious leaders that the election be held on June 2.

Mr Sall has said he will step down by April 2 when his tenure is due to end but there had been concerns over who would take over from him if elections were not held before then.

In postponing the election, he had cited the controversies over the final list of candidates — some of whom were disqualified — as a major concern that could threaten the country’s stability.

But the opposition accused him of a “constitutional coup”, alleging that he was plotting to prolong his stay in office. Mr Sall denied this in an interview with The Associated Press, saying the country needed more time to resolve the controversies.

For a country that used to be seen as a beacon of democratic stability, the election delay raised concerns about the democratic decline in West Africa, a region plagued by coups and insecurity.