(3 Minutes Read)
Senegalese Presidential Candidates have little more than two weeks as the court confirmed the held-up election would be held on March 24. The 19 candidates have little more than two weeks, rather than the usual 21 days, to garner support.
Senegalese Presidential Candidates have little more than two weeks as the court confirmed the held-up election would be held on March 24. The 19 candidates have little more than two weeks, rather than the usual 21 days, to garner support. Presidential candidates launched their shortened campaigns on Saturday, ending weeks of uncertainty and kick-starting a competition that remains wide open. For the first time in the history of Senegal, election campaigning is taking place during the holy month of Ramadan
Tensions have gripped the country since early February, when a bid by President Macky Sall to postpone by 10 months a vote that had been due to take place on Feb. 25 provoked widespread protests. The worst of the crisis appears to be over after the Constitutional Council ruled that the vote must be held before Sall’s mandate expires on April 2.
Sall, who has reached the constitutional limit of two terms in power, said when he delayed the poll that he was doing so because of a dispute over candidates and alleged corruption within the Constitutional Council that approved the list. The council has denied the accusations.
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The ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition’s candidate, Amadou Ba, was due to kick off his campaign as was opposition candidate Anta Babacar. Khalifa Sall was prevented by a jail sentence from contesting the 2019 presidential election and later pardoned, launched his campaign as the clock struck midnight on Friday. He pledged to reunite the divided country and reform state institutions to avoid future constitutional crises, calling the recent dispute over the election date a “grave and sad thing” for a country that has held elections for 64 years. He also promised to revive the economy by boosting agriculture, fishing, and the budding oil and gas industry.
