DAKAR, March 9 (Reuters) – Candidates for Senegal’s March 24 presidential election launched their campaign on Saturday, reduced to two weeks after a serious political crisis triggered by the postponement of the vote.
Strong tensions shook the country of 18 million inhabitants after the announcement by President Macky Sall, three weeks before the initial deadline of February 25, of the postponement of the election to December. The situation greatly calmed down after the decision of the Constitutional Council to oblige the executive to organize the vote before the expiration of the mandate of the current head of state, on April 2.
The decision leaves the nineteen candidates in the running two weeks to appeal to voters, instead of the usual 21 days. The shortened campaign will take place for the first time during the fasting month of Ramadan, which begins Sunday evening in the predominantly Muslim country.
“We are going to have to adapt everything,” said Khalifa Sall, opposition candidate and former mayor of Dakar, according to whom large festive electoral rallies do not fit with Ramadan, which is a time of communion and penance.
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“We will have to show flexibility and ingenuity,” he added. “But the important thing is that we have a date and we are going to vote.”
Khalifa Sall, who is not related to the president, launched his campaign at midnight Friday, the official campaign opening time, promising to reunify the country and calling out the recent dispute over the date of the election “serious and sad moment” for Senegal, one of the oldest democracies in Africa.
Macky Sall, who has reached the constitutional limit of two consecutive presidential mandates, justified his desire to postpone the election by suspicions of corruption within the Constitutional Council, which rejected these accusations.
Other candidates are due to start campaigning this Saturday, including Amadou Ba, candidate for the ruling BBY (Benno Bokk Yakaar) coalition, and opponent Anta Babacar Ngom. (Reporting Portia Crowe, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version)
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