The presidential majority was divided after the postponement of the presidential elections
Two days after the presidential elections were postponed to December 15, 2024, which was approved by Parliament, the divisions within the Senegalese political class are widening between supporters and opponents of postponing these elections. Divisions exist even in the power camp. After the resignation of the Secretary-General of the Government, on Saturday evening, it was the turn of others to express their disagreement.
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With our correspondent in Dakar. Leah Lisa Westerhoff
This was done by publishing his resignation letter addressed to Macy asked Awa Marie Cole Seck, Minister of State and Chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, expressed her disagreement with the President. “ the Senegal She deserves to see her Republican calendar respected », writes the former Minister of Health in this letter, even if « Our electoral process still needs to be perfected “.
A way to question the argument used by President Macky Sall that there is a serious institutional crisis due to many imbalances in the electoral process which therefore merits postponing the elections.
Read alsoSenegal: The Assembly votes to postpone the presidential elections after the forced eviction of opposition representatives
Another discordant voice was heard: that of Zahra Iyani Thiam, director of the Senegalese Export Promotion Agency who nevertheless fought alongside President Macky Sall during his election in 2012. On Tuesday, she broke with her camp. ” I believe that today's action (postponing the presidential election, editor's note)“East” A flagrant violation of our Fundamental Charter “.” What a lose ! », she writes again FB.
Finally, a member of Parliament voted, on Monday evening, against the bill to postpone the presidential elections. This is the parliamentarian from the ruling coalition, Benu Buk Yakar. There is plenty of evidence to show that postponing the vote is far from unanimous and even risks dividing the majority camp a little more.
On the other hand, others congratulated the postponement of the vote, such as the Senegalese Democratic Party. For Mamadou Lamine Thiam, head of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party, it was not possible to do otherwise given the numerous irregularities that characterized the process of selecting candidates. According to him, we must go further and create a new Constitutional Council.
These failures were likely to undermine the integrity, democracy, and inclusiveness of the elections, which would have led the country into chaos if they had been preserved.
Mamadou Lamine Thiam, Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party
The Economic Community of West African States raises its voice
The ECOWAS Commission published a new press release on Tuesday evening advising against taking any measures that may conflict with the country’s constitution and encouraging “ Urgently necessary measures to restore the electoral calendar “.
A fair number of observers, including within the organization, judge the tone of this second press release to be tougher and clearer than the first. It must be said that between February 3, the date of the first letter, and this Tuesday, West African society has not yet witnessed the scene of parliamentarians being forcefully expelled from the National Assembly by the police.
Abuja also did not yet understand that the vote of the representatives of the presidential majority and its circumstantial allies would allow Macky Sall to extend his term until December 15, 2024.
However, in its new press release, the Commission attempts to accommodate the sensitivities of the two camps opposed to Dakar by offering to support Senegal in maintaining its democratic traditions. But a source at the Commission's headquarters indicates that it cannot afford another failure after disdaining the division in the Sahel coalition. A meeting of ECOWAS foreign ministers is scheduled to be held on Thursday to consider the situation of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Senegal has just been added to the programme
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