Senegal's Sall dissolves govt, announces new date for presidential election

Senegalese President Macky Sall.

Senegalese President Macky Sall has dissolved the government, named Interior Minister Sidiki Kaba as the country's new prime minister, and also rescheduled the presidential election to March 24.

"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 spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said in the statement.

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

It comes after Senegal's top constitutional body said the presidential vote must be held before President Sall's mandate ends on April 2, rejecting a proposal that it happen on June 2.

The Constitutional Council also rejected another recommendation made to the president and declared that the list of 19 candidates already approved by the body should not be revised, in a document authenticated by the AFP news agency.

The West African country was thrown into a political crisis on February 3 when Sall postponed the presidential election set for February 25.

His announcement, denounced as a "constitutional coup d'etat" by the opposition, sparked protests that resulted in four deaths.

On February 15, Senegal's constitutional council overruled Sall, and ever since the country has been waiting for a new date.

Sall indicated that he would ask the constitutional council for its opinion on the June 2 vote request. That request was rejected on Wednesday.

Protests in Dakar

Last week, several hundred people rallied in the Senegalese capital Dakar calling for the country's postponed presidential elections to be held before April 2, the date when incumbent Sall's term is set to end.

The protesters gathered at a sandy lot in a working-class neighbourhood for the protest, called by the "Resistance Front", an alliance of opposition parties and campaigning groups.

Many brandished Senegalese flags and portraits of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, jailed since July for "incitement to insurrection" and barred from running in the presidential vote.

Sonko has endorsed Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is also in jail but who was cleared to be on the ballot.

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Source: TRT