Fifteen of the 20 candidates who were approved to stand in Senegal’s delayed February presidential poll have called for the new vote to be held no later than April 2.
President Macky Sall, whose tenure ends on that date, declared the February 25 vote to be postponed mere hours before the start of official campaigning.
This action precipitated Senegal’s most severe political unrest in decades.
The highest constitutional body reversed the decision last week.
Nevertheless, this has generated uncertainty regarding the scheduling of the election subsequent to Sall’s departure from office, as well as whether the ballot will consist of the same candidates.
As reported on Monday, fifteen of the initial candidates endorsed a letter mandating that “both the handover between the president and his successor and the new polling date must transpire no later than April 2nd.”
They further stated that the twenty names that were approved in January ought to remain unchanged.
A letter that was verified by two of the signatories.
Sall has declared his intention to honour the decision of the Constitutional Council and promised to “immediately conduct the consultations required to organise the presidential election.”
“With deep regret that no action has been taken by the authorities to implement the decision of the Constitutional Council,” stated the letter’s signatories.
Prominent candidates, including detained anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye and former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, who is unrelated to the president, endorsed the document.
It was not endorsed by Prime Minister Amadou Ba, the candidate of the presidential faction.