Senegal’s Constitutional Council announced Thursday that it had agreed to hold the postponed presidential election on March 24, as suggested by the outgoing president.
The council planned the election for March 31, while President Macky Sall, who had canceled the initial polling day of February 25, set a new date a week earlier.
The Constitutional Council stated in a statement on Thursday that it had “compensated for the administration’s inertia” by declaring a March 31 election date, but that in the meanwhile, the executive had fixed the problem by issuing decrees convening the electoral body on March 24.
The directives made by Sall “comply with (the) requirement” of organizing the ballot before the end of his mandate on April 2, according to the Council.
The measure should alleviate the crisis caused by Sall’s postponement in the presidential election.
Sall, who has been in charge since 2012, said he cancelled the poll due to disagreements over the disqualification of potential candidates and concerns about a return to the instability observed in 2021 and 2023.
The delay sparked outrage at home and abroad, resulting in protests that killed four people.
The normally stable West African nation is now going on what could be its most open presidential election in modern history.