Senegalese civil society and opposition kept up pressure on President Macky Sall ahead of opposition protests Tuesday against his move to delay a presidential election.
Sall’s decision to push back the February 25 vote plunged Senegal into a crisis which has seen three dead amid clashes between protesters and police.
The Aar Sunu Election (Let’s protect our election) collective, which includes some 40 civil, religious and professional groups, has called for a rally in Dakar on Tuesday at 1500 GMT.
Protests pitting youths against the security forces have threatened Senegal’s reputation as a haven of stability in West Africa as the region is roiled by coups and unrest.
The United States and European Union have called on the government to restore the original election timetable.
The organisers of Tuesday’s march said they had received no information from the authorities as to whether it would be banned.
Possible amnesty
Sall, who has been in office since 2012, is now seeking a way out of the turmoil.
Media have reported the possibility of a new dialogue with the opposition, including anti-establishment firebrand Ousmane Sonko, who fought the state for more than two years before being imprisoned last year.
Some have suggested the possibility of an amnesty for Sonko, his imprisoned second-in-command Bassirou Diomaye Faye and for people detained during unrest in 2021 and 2023.
The government has not commented on the reports.
Parliament backed Sall’s suspension of the election until December 15, but only after security forces stormed parliament and detained some opposition deputies.
The vote paved the way for Sall — whose second term was due to expire in April — to remain in office until his successor is installed, probably in 2025.
Senegal’s opposition has decried the move as a “constitutional coup” and suspects it is part of a plan by the presidential camp to extend Sall’s term in office, despite him reiterating that he would not stand again.