|
President Macky Sall last week promised he would abide by the
Constitutional Council's request for the vote to be scheduled as
soon as possible.
The court blocked Sall’s parliament-backed decree to postpone
the election, originally scheduled for Feb. 25.
Sall faced significant domestic and international pressure to
accept the council's ruling after the crisis triggered violent
street protests and warnings of authoritarian overreach in one
of coup-hit West Africa's more stable democracies.
But a new date has yet to be set, stoking concern among
opposition candidates, some of whom are pushing for the election
to take place before Sall's mandate ends on April 2.
In a joint statement late on Tuesday, 16 of the 19 presidential
contenders complained about an "inexplicable slowness" enacting
the council's ruling.
They said the slow resumption of electoral operations showed
Sall's unwillingness to launch a process that would lead to a
change of power.
The presidency did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked in a press conference on Tuesday about the end of Sall's
mandate on April 2, Justice Minister Aïssata Tall Sall said it
was up for debate.
"I do not know if the presidential election will happen (before
April 2)," she said.
"But as for those who say there will be a power vacuum from
April 2... it's a debate between lawyers and constitutional
experts," she added.
Senegal had never previously delayed a presidential vote and
many of the opposition saw the attempted postponement as an
effort by the president to extend his mandate via an
"institutional coup."
Sall, 62, is not standing for re-election, having reached the
constitutional limit of two terms in power.
He has said the vote's postponement was needed due to a dispute
over the candidate list and alleged corruption within the
Constitutional Council, which it denies.
The Constitutional Council published an amended list of 19
presidential candidates on Tuesday that was almost unchanged
from the original. Just one candidate was removed because she
had withdrawn her application.
(Reporting by Ngouda Dione and Portia Crowe; Writing by Sofia
Christensen; Editing by Crystal Chesters)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
