{"id":12916,"date":"2024-02-19T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/?p=12916"},"modified":"2024-02-17T21:40:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T02:40:42","slug":"focus-on-spring-2024-elections-senegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2024\/02\/19\/focus-on-spring-2024-elections-senegal\/","title":{"rendered":"FOCUS on Spring 2024 Elections: Senegal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ose-gettyimages ose-uid-0ad5af172f37f19c9a588e1d38055dd9 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:723px; height:623px; max-height:623px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"GettyImages\"><a id=\"QxCbGVWdQONoKuLWKkexkA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1254255386\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:\"QxCbGVWdQONoKuLWKkexkA\",sig:\"Xj_RyZG7GEwGa_KVWJ9XzogeMauIo-B-jBeS6hGyILc=\",w:\"594px\",h:\"396px\",items:\"1254255386\",caption: false ,tld:\"com\",is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async><\/script><\/div>\n\t\t\t<script>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof gie === 'function') {\n\t\t\t\t\tgie(function(){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar iframe = document.querySelector('.ose-embedpress-responsive iframe');\n\t\t\t\t\t\tif(iframe && !iframe.getAttribute('title')){\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tiframe.setAttribute('title', '')\n\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t});\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><strong>Sofia A. Diaz<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voters in Senegal were left confused and outraged over the indefinite postponement of the 2024 Senegalese presidential election, which was initially scheduled for February 25. President Macky Sall formally announced the postponement on February 4, which led to an outburst of protests in the capital city of Dakar, reports <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/2\/4\/eu-postponed-senegal-election-opens-period-of-uncertainty\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Al Jazeera<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the following days, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/2\/6\/senegal-parliament-delays-election-to-december-15-after-chaotic-vote\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Al Jazeera<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reports that a parliamentary vote extended the delay until December 15.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">President Sall assured the public on February 3 that the reasoning for his declaration of the postponement was regarding potential corruption within the list of eligible candidates. The announcement left his opposers and voters disgruntled. As per <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-68209178\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBC News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, critics believe Sall is attempting to run again for a third term or that he may have motive to influence his preferred successor, Prime Minister Amadou Ba, however he has denied these rumors. This is a prominent concern for voters considering last month\u2019s exclusion of valued opposition members on behalf of Senegal\u2019s Constitutional Council.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/03\/world\/africa\/senegal-president-cancels-election.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the U.S. Embassy issued a public statement warning of protests in the Dakar perimeter. Despite the public notice, people remained calm and continued business as usual. BBC News reports that Khalifa Sall (unrelated to President Sall), who is a former mayor of Dakar, was said to have declared the postponement to be a \u2018constitutional coup;\u2019 one that voters should be urging to speak up against. Another candidate from the election, Thierno Alassane Sall (also unrelated to President Sall), had allegedly stated that the postponement resembles \u201chigh treason\u201d and urged his supporters to protest before the National Assembly, placing emphasis on \u201cstanding on the right side of history.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hundreds of men and women of varying ages began gathering in the capital in response to the call. Police trained to handle riots were called to the scene and reportedly fired tear gas to disperse opposition leaders\u2019 supporters, according to Al Jazeera. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/africa\/20240209-senegal-protesters-clash-with-security-forces-over-presidential-election-delay\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">France 24<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reports candidate Thierno Alassane Sall to have stated, \u201cthe situation is deplorable. We came to pray, and we got gassed. It&#8217;s intolerable.\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/three-dead-senegal-protests-over-delayed-presidential-election-2024-02-11\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reuters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reports the death toll amid protests has raised to three, as of February 11.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shortly following Sall\u2019s announcement, Senegal\u2019s parliament allowed the extension of his tenure and scheduled the new date for the election to be December 15. BBC News reports that some of the opposing leaders stated that their affiliates had been \u201cforcibly removed from the parliament building by police in riot gear,\u201d with the intent to stop their ability to vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voters fear that Senegal\u2019s longstanding stable democracy is now at risk. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usip.org\/publications\/2024\/02\/suddenly-senegal-new-risk-democracy-africa#:~:text=Senegal's%20people%20are%20among%20the,in%20the%20past%20five%20years\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The United States Institute for Peace<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> states that most Senegalese believe their democracy has been weakened in recent years, according to Afrobarometer, an independent research group that has conducted repeated annual surveys. Al Jazeera reports that so far, at least three of twenty candidates have filed motions in response to the delay, with two additional candidates planning to litigate the matter in the courts, according to confirmed Constitutional documents. Senegalese authorities allegedly placed restrictions on mobile internet access from the evening of February 4, considering threats to people or public order and hate messages via social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A protester wanting to be addressed by first name only, Dame, informed Reuters that \u201cSenegal has been known as a country with a strong democracy, but this is no longer the case,\u201d as himself and the remainder of the voters have one interest in mind: a fair election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research and advocacy group <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2024\/02\/05\/election-delay-senegal-puts-rights-risk\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Human Rights Watch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has warned that Senegal\u2019s democracy is at risk after events surrounding the 2024 presidential election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Image courtesy of Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Sall assured the public on February 3 that the reasoning for his declaration of the postponement was regarding potential corruption within the list of eligible candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5615,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2724,2705,2748,5,385],"tags":[404,692,856,2754,2755],"class_list":["post-12916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2024","category-2705","category-spring-2024-elections","category-focus","category-africa","tag-elections","tag-senegal","tag-democracy","tag-postponed-elections","tag-president-macky-sall"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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