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Local sources from Senegal: FRANCE 24, Le Monde.
UK coverage: BBC.

Senegal is facing a critical situation after the postponement of elections. The country’s President, Macky Sall, has played a significant role in promoting democracy in the region, particularly in urging military leaders to hold elections and transfer power to civilian authorities. Senegalese troops were previously deployed to The Gambia in 2017 to remove Yahya Jammeh from power after he refused to accept election results. This postponement raises concerns about the stability of Senegal, a country that has experienced several coups in the past.

The situation in Senegal remained highly tense on Monday, February 5, two days after President Macky Sall indefinitely postponed the presidential election. Following clashes on Sunday evening in the capital, a protest gathering in front of the National Assembly was dispersed by gendarmes using tear gas.

Lawmakers began examining a proposed constitutional amendment that would postpone the election for a maximum of six months. Senegalese representatives are set to vote on a report adopted the previous day by the preparatory committee, which suggests postponing the presidential election for six months or even a year, according to the content of the text distributed during the session and supported by the presidential camp. Approval requires a three-fifths majority of the 165 deputies. The vote, scheduled for later in the day, is not guaranteed for Macky Sall and his camp.

Access to mobile internet data was cut off in several neighborhoods of Dakar on Monday, as observed by journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP). The government had already suspended access in June 2023, amid a political crisis. This measure has become a common response to contain mobilization and communication through social networks.

The President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called on Senegalese citizens on Monday, in a statement, to resolve their “political dispute through consultation, agreement, and dialogue” following the tensions and violence caused by the postponement of the presidential election. Expressing his “concern” about the postponement, he urged the authorities to “organize the elections as soon as possible, with transparency, peace, and national harmony.”

The opposition denounces an authoritarian drift of power. With the postponement of the presidential election, they suspect a plan to avoid the inevitable defeat of the presidential camp, or even to extend President Macky Sall’s term, despite his reiterated commitment on Saturday not to run for re-election. The candidate of the presidential camp, Prime Minister Amadou Bâ, faces dissent within his own ranks.

President Sall cited the serious conflict that erupted between the Constitutional Council and the National Assembly after the definitive validation by the jurisdiction of twenty candidacies and the elimination of several dozen others. He alleged the risk of pre- and post-election disputes and new clashes, as seen in 2021 and 2023.