SENEGAL: PRESIDENT MACKY SALL ON SATURDAY SUSPENDED ELECTIONS THAT WERE DUE TO BE HELD ON FEB. .

A meeting of opposition leaders in Senegal was scheduled for 3pm local time on Sunday, according to people familiar with their plans, hours before political parties were set to commence official campaigns.. Yacine Fall, vice president of external relations for Pastef, one of the opposition parties, described Sall’s suspension of the election as “a constitutional coup.” By Alexander Onukwue

Sall did not announce a new date for the vote. He said instead that he will open a “national dialogue to bring together the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election.” He cited “troubled conditions” that could “undermine the credibility of the ballot by sowing the seeds of pre- and post-electoral disputes.”

Those conditions are thought to be related to the decision by the Constitutional Council — a body that approves election candidates in Senegal — to exclude some members of the opposition from participating in the vote, notably Karim Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party (SDS).

Sall has served the maximum two terms permitted, having first been elected in 2012. He said last July that he would not seek re-election. Sall later named Amadou Ba as the ruling party’s candidate. Ba has served as prime minister since September 2022.

Senegal has held a succession of peaceful elections over the last two decades, giving it a reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democracies. Its constitution empowers the president to put forward a decree calling for elections to be held. But debates are currently ongoing in the country over whether the president can cancel elections, Abdou Salam Thiam, a Dakar-based advocacy and campaign expert, told Semafor Africa.