France calls for postponed Senegal vote to be held ‘as soon as possible’

Senegal should end “uncertainty” created by President Macky Sall’s announcement that an election scheduled for February 25 would be postponed indefinitely, France said Sunday, calling for a vote “as soon as possible”.

“We call on authorities to end the uncertainty about the electoral calendar so the vote can be held as soon as possible, under the rules of Senegalese democracy,” Paris’ foreign ministry said in a statement as Senegal’s political crisis deepens.

The intervention from Paris, the former colonial power in Senegal, came as opposition presidential candidates called for a Sunday afternoon demonstration in Dakar. They said they would launch their campaigns in defiance of the official postponement.

Senegal has traditionally been seen as a rare example of democratic stability in West Africa, which has been hit by a series of coups in recent years including in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Washington and West African bloc Ecowas both expressed concern and called for a swift new vote following Sall’s Saturday announcement.

The president said a conflict between the Constitutional Council and parliament over approvals of presidential candidacies had led to the suspension of the vote.

Credit: rfi

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