by Portia Crowe and Ngouda Dione
DAKAR (Reuters) – President Macky Sall pledged on Friday to respect the decision of the Constitutional Council to invalidate the postponement to December of the presidential election in Senegal, initially scheduled for February 25.
In a statement, the Senegalese president said he would hold consultations to organize a vote “as soon as possible”.
The sudden announcement on February 3 of the postponement of the presidential election, just three weeks before it was due to take place, plunged Senegal into an unprecedented situation and accentuated political tensions in the country, a rare pole of stability in a West Africa in the grip of to frequent coups d’état.
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Opponents demonstrated again on Friday in Dakar and the police used tear gas to try to disperse their gathering.
Thursday’s decision by the Constitutional Council to cancel this postponement of the election added to the confusion.
Macky Sall “took note” of this decision and “will without delay carry out the necessary consultations for the organization of the presidential election as soon as possible”, declared the Senegalese presidency in a press release, assuring that the head of state “intends to fully implement the decision of the Constitutional Council”.
The leaders of the opposition, the regional bloc of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), France and the United States had previously urged Macky Sall, whose mandate expires on April 2 , to respect the judgment of the Constitutional Council and to quickly set a new date for the presidential election.
“On April 2, the president will leave,” said opponent Khalifa Sall, who described the postponement of the election as an “institutional coup.”
“Now, the conditions must be adapted because organizing the election on February 25 would be materially impossible,” he added, saying he was ready to participate in talks with all parties concerned to define the new date of the poll .
(With Diadie Ba, Bate Felix, Nellie Peyton, written by Anait Miridzhanian, Alessandra Prentice and Sofia Christensen, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse and Bertrand Boucey)
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