Senegal’s president says the postponed election will be held before the rainy season begins
FILE - Senegal President Macky Sall poses before an interview with The Associated Press at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Feb. 9 , 2024. Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, that he will end his term in April as expected, but he didn’t give a new date for the presidential election originally scheduled for Sunday. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui, File)
Supporters of the Aar Sunu Senegal opposition collective demonstrate on a street, in Dakar, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Senegal’s government says it will hold a presidential election as soon as possible given that the country’s top election authority has overturned a decree by President Macky Sall to postpone the vote. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)
FILE - Senegal President Macky Sall poses before an interview with The Associated Press at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Feb. 9 , 2024. Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, that he will end his term in April as expected, but he didn’t give a new date for the presidential election originally scheduled for Sunday. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui, File)
FILE - Senegal President Macky Sall poses before an interview with The Associated Press at the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal, Feb. 9 , 2024. Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, that he will end his term in April as expected, but he didn’t give a new date for the presidential election originally scheduled for Sunday. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui, File)
Supporters of the Aar Sunu Senegal opposition collective demonstrate on a street, in Dakar, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Senegal’s government says it will hold a presidential election as soon as possible given that the country’s top election authority has overturned a decree by President Macky Sall to postpone the vote. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)
Supporters of the Aar Sunu Senegal opposition collective demonstrate on a street, in Dakar, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Senegal’s government says it will hold a presidential election as soon as possible given that the country’s top election authority has overturned a decree by President Macky Sall to postpone the vote. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s President Macky Sall told a national dialogue Monday that elections will be held before the rainy season begins around July, and reiterated his commitment to leave office before his mandate ends in April.
But the election’s 16 candidates refused to take part in the dialogue, insisting that an election date must be set as soon as possible in line with a court order earlier this month.
Sall, who has said he wouldn’t run again after his two terms in office, had postponed the election for 10 months while citing unresolved disputes over who could run. Senegal’s Constitutional Court struck down the delay as illegal.
The court on Feb. 15 ordered the government to set a new election date as soon as possible, but Sall’s government still hasn’t done so.
The national dialogue is intended to foster trust among the population and political actors and includes civil society members and religious leaders.
“Dialogue and consultation are precisely what is needed to heal these weaknesses and move forward in the quest for the ideal of democracy,” Sall said.
Senegal had been seen as one of Africa’s most stable democracies, but disputes over the election have plunged the country into a political crisis.
In another attempt to calm the West African nation, the president said he would submit a general amnesty law addressing the sometimes deadly protests in which hundreds of people were jailed.
It was unclear who would benefit from the amnesty law and if leading opposition political figures like Ousmane Sonko would benefit. Sonko is in jail and barred from running in the election. He is charged with calling for an insurrection and convicted of “corrupting youth.”
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