Senegal’s President Sall announced he will step down on April 2, but did not state when next elections will hold
Abubakar Hashim/ Sierra Leone
Senegal’s President Macky Sall, in a nationwide broadcast last night, finally agreed to step down on April 2, 2024, thereby abiding by his constitutional term limit of another five years. He won a second term elections on April 2, 2019.
He did not, however, state, in the broadcast, when the next elections, slated for coming Sunday 25, February 2024, will eventually be held. Instead, he revealed that a “ national dialogue will commence on Monday 26 February 2024, to midwife the election date and other critical matters”.
Opposition political parties have cried foul, stating, “the broadcast was a blank cheque”, accusing President Sall of “stalling the democratic process”, as he is “scheming to a transition government after exiting power on 2 April”.
Leading opposition politician, Ousmane Sanko, if even he is released, will not be on the ballot.
President Sall has now truncated Senegal’s democratic process.
Once known as the “ golden jewel “ of West African democracy, with no coups in its 64-year independence from France, Senegal is descending into a deep pit of political chaos and uproar.
Sall, who first came to power in 2014, on the heels of protests against former President Abdoulaye Wade, is now enmeshed in a series of similar protests.
Senegal is on the slippery road to imminent crises, as the national dialogue platform, which will commence work on Monday 26, February 2024, is likely not capable of midwiving the democratic process that has now lost steam.
West Africa, is now saddled with multilayered crises. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have exited ECOWAS. Guinea is currently engulfed in crisis, with a shaky electoral transition timetable for December 2024. Col Mamadi Doumbouya sacked his entire cabinet last Monday.
ECOWAS is now applying diplomatic overtures to win back the three countries that exited from the bloc.
Senegal is now the new entrant into a difficult web of crises unfolding in West Africa