Home West Africa Senegal’s President Macky Sall under pressure, releases political prisoners

Senegal’s President Macky Sall under pressure, releases political prisoners

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Following days of protests, Senegal President Macky Sall’s government has started releasing political prisoners. Now civil society demands elections before his term ends in April. At least 300 political prisoners have been released within 48 hours in Senegal. Most of them had been detained after being arrested by security forces during protests.

Senegalese authorities restricted protests with police operations which led to the arrest of hundreds of opposition activists.  Then the Government banned demonstrations and cut off mobile internet service. It now seems that people are slowly reclaiming their right to demonstrate and their freedom of expression, with authorized marches through the streets of Dakar and other cities over the weekend.

On February 3, President Macky Sall announced the postponement of elections scheduled for February 25, triggering widespread uproar in a country that many observers view as a stable democracy. Last week, the Senegalese Constitutional Council declared Sall’s postponement of the elections null and void. Judges also declared a December 15 parliamentary vote on a new election date illegal.

President Macky Sall, under increasing internal and external pressure, now wants to hold the presidential election as soon as possible, according to the statement published on the “DakarActu” platform.

Read Also:

https://trendsnafrica.com/senegal-to-hold-elections-soon-macky-sall/

https://trendsnafrica.com/senegal-bans-march-against-postponement-of-elections-snapped-internet/

https://trendsnafrica.com/meeting-of-nigerian-and-senegal-president-to-discuss-poll-issues-postponed-no-fresh-date-announced/

 The “Synergie des organizations pour la sauvegarde de la paix” (SOS/Paix), a coalition of 18 civil organizations, is proposing the presidential elections be held between March 3 and 10. Most political actors are calling for the elections to be held before April 2, the end of Macky Sall’s second term of office. According to election expert Djibril Gningue, this would be in line with the Constitutional Council’s decision. Having determined that it is impossible to keep the date of February 25, the Constitutional Council has asked him to set a date as soon as possible