(2 minutes read)
- Senegal’s opposition has called for the suspension of the publication of the results of Sunday’s legislative elections so that complaints over alleged irregularities and fraud are first sorted out
Senegal’s opposition has called for the suspension of the publication of the results of Sunday’s legislative elections so that complaints over alleged irregularities and fraud are first sorted out .
Both the government and opposition camps are claiming victory after Sunday’s vote for filling the 165 seats in the National Assembly, which was largely controlled by the presidential coalition. The opposition camp called on the National Commission for the Census of Votes to suspend the publication of the results scheduled to allow the opposition inter-coalition to review the results poll by poll, through open sessions. The open sessions, they observed, would enable the people to understand the extent of irregularities in the voting system and manipulations that were done to rig the results.
Read also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/electoral-drama-persists-in-senegal-ruling-and-opposition-claim-victory/
https://trendsnafrica.com/elections-in-senegal-ruling-party-claims-upper-hand-in-elections/
The opposition hoped the elections would impose a cohabitation, or divided government, and curb any ambition by the present president to opt for another term-a third term. The polls, the last before presidential elections in 2024, were an important test for Sall after local elections in January saw the opposition win in major cities, including the capital Dakar, Ziguinchor in the south and Thies in the west.
The main opposition coalition expressed “astonishment” at the government representative’ s claim that the government had won a “comfortable majority. The opposition asserted that it was a ploy by the presidential side to corner the votes through unlawful means.
Provisional overall results are due soon, latest by Friday (today). Sources said that initial indications suggest the poll was close and that the main opposition coalition had gained ground, particularly in urban areas. The single round of voting will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament — currently controlled by the president’s supporters — for the next five years. The 21-day election campaign passed in a mostly calm atmosphere.
