Senegalese lawmakers vote to postpone presidential election to 15 December

Senegalese lawmakers vote to postpone presidential election to 15 December

In response to public uproar, which prompted some opposition members to stop proceedings until security forces intervened, Senegal’s parliament on Monday decided to conduct a postponed presidential election on December 15.

This is in response to President Macky Sall’s historic announcement on Saturday of a delay, which sent the West African country into unknown constitutional seas and jeopardised its standing as a bulwark of democratic stability in a region beset by coups.

Authorities on Monday restricted mobile internet access amid growing protests by opposition supporters against the delay.

Tear gas was used by riot police to break up rallies outside parliament when legislators deliberated a bill that originally called for delaying the poll from February 25 to August 25 and for Sall to remain in office until his replacement is appointed.

By the evening, shortly before the final vote, the measure had been changed to suggest an even later election date of December 15, but it was still passed by 105 of the 165 MPs in the Assembly.

A repetition of the violent demonstrations that have broken out over the previous three years, partially due to Sall’s alleged authoritarian overreach, is possible given the last-minute modification to move the election from August to December. This might also spark fresh opposition pushback.

Following many hours of procedural talks, the measure was about to be debated and put to a vote when a dozen opposition politicians stormed the centre dais and refused to leave, essentially stopping parliamentary action.

More than two hours later, security forces moved them off the central area, allowing the vote to proceed.

“What you are doing is not democratic, it’s not republican,” said Guy Marius Sagna, who was one of several rebel MPs wearing a sash in the colours of the Senegalese flag.

Tear gas, arrests

The postponement faced strong pushback elsewhere on Monday. At least three of the 20 presidential candidates submitted legal challenges to the delay, Constitutional Council documents showed. Two more candidates have vowed to challenge it via the courts.

Around 100 people gathered outside parliament on Monday, after confrontations on Sunday, chanting “Macky Sall is a dictator”. Police fired tear gas, chased them into side streets and made arrests.

Authorities temporarily restricted mobile internet access from Sunday night, citing hate messages on social media and threats to public order. Several schools sent pupils home early.

The private Walf television channel said it was taken off air on Sunday and had its licence revoked.

The Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy said mobile internet services were cut Monday “due to the dissemination of several hateful and subversive messages relayed on social networks in the context of threats and disturbances to public order.”

“The government’s abrupt shutdown of internet access via mobile data and Walf TV’s broadcasting … constitutes a blatant assault on the right to freedom of expression and press rights protected by Senegal’s constitution,” Amnesty International’s regional office for West and Central Africa said in a statement.

“Senegal has been known as a country with a strong democracy but this is no longer the case,” one protester who only gave his first name, Dame, told Reuters. “The only thing we want is a fair election.” He said he was worried Sall would cling on to power indefinitely.

The African Union and United States on Monday joined a chorus of calls from regional bodies and Western governments for a new election date to be set as soon as possible.

Ratings agency Moody’s warned that any lengthy delay to the election could hamper the country’s planned fiscal consolidation by making it harder to implement policies, including a promised phasing out of energy subsidies by 2025.

Senegal’s sovereign dollar bonds fell sharply. The bond maturing in 2033 tumbled more than 4 cents on the dollar to 82.4 cents – its biggest one-day fall since the 2020 COVID-19 market rout – Tradeweb data showed.

‘Institutional coup’

Sall, who is not standing in the vote and has reached the constitutional limit of two terms in power, said he delayed the election due to a dispute over the candidate list and alleged corruption within the constitutional body that handled the list.

The opposition Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), whose candidate was barred from running because of dual nationality issues, supports the delay and proposed the postponement bill in parliament before Sall’s announcement.

The bill passed due to backing by the ruling party and the opposition coalition, which includes PDS.

Other opposition and civil society groups have angrily rejected it, with some saying Sall is trying to postpone his departure. The F24 platform, a large group of organisations behind past demonstrations, and candidate Khalifa Sall, have called it an “institutional coup”.

Before the vote, a Barclays analysis warned that it could lead to more democratic backsliding.

“Such a postponement could open the door for subsequent postponements and allow the president to do many things,” it said.