Senegal Constitutional Council Finds Election Delay Unlawful

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DAKAR, SENEGAL — Sene­gal’s Con­sti­tu­tion­al Coun­cil on Thurs­day ruled that par­lia­men­t’s unprece­dent­ed post­pone­ment of the Feb­ru­ary 25 pres­i­den­tial vote was not in line with the con­sti­tu­tion, pitch­ing the coun­try into a new phase of elec­toral uncertainty. 

Oppo­si­tion pres­i­den­tial can­di­dates and law­mak­ers last week filed sev­er­al legal chal­lenges to the bill that delayed the vote to Decem­ber and extend­ed Pres­i­dent Macky Sal­l’s man­date in what crit­ics said amount­ed to an insti­tu­tion­al coup. 

The stand­off has fueled wide­spread unrest and raised inter­na­tion­al con­cerns that one of the remain­ing democ­ra­cies in coup-hit West Africa is under threat. 

In the lat­est twist, the Con­sti­tu­tion­al Coun­cil decid­ed that “the [post­pone­ment] law … is con­trary to the con­sti­tu­tion,” accord­ing to its minutes. 

The coun­cil also ruled to can­cel a decree announced by Sall ahead of the vote that had set the post­pone­ment in motion. 

The pres­i­den­cy and gov­ern­ment did not reply to requests for comment. 

What hap­pens next is unclear. Sall, who is not stand­ing in the vote and has reached the con­sti­tu­tion­al lim­it of two terms in pow­er, said he delayed the elec­tion because of a dis­pute over the can­di­date list and alleged cor­rup­tion with­in the Con­sti­tu­tion­al Council. 

In its deci­sion, the coun­cil did not spec­i­fy when the elec­tion should be held. There are 10 days left before the orig­i­nal poll date, and most can­di­dates have not been cam­paign­ing since Sall issued his decree on Feb­ru­ary 3, hours before cam­paigns were meant to kick off. 

The coun­cil’s deci­sion has “left a win­dow of oppor­tu­ni­ty open for dis­cus­sion,” said Ali Ngouille Ndi­aye, a for­mer min­is­ter and oppo­si­tion can­di­date, on local radio.