DAKAR, Senegal: Fifteen of the 20 candidates approved to run in Senegal’s delayed February presidential poll have called for a new vote to be held by April 2 at the latest.
President Macky Sall, whose term officially expires that day, announced the postponement of the vote to February 25 just hours before the official campaign was due to begin.
The move plunged the African country into its worst political turmoil in decades.
The highest constitutional body had overturned the decision of postponing the vote, last week. However, it left open the question of whether elections would be held before incumbent president Sall leaves office or whether the same candidates would be on the ballot.
Fifteen of the original candidates signed the letter on Monday, which said the new date of the election and the handover date between the president and his successor must take place no later than April 2.
They further said that the list of 20 names approved in January should remain the same.
Sall said he intends to respect the Constitutional Council’s decision and will carry out the consultations necessary to hold presidential elections as soon as possible.
The signatories of the letter expressed “bitterness that, since the decision of the Constitutional Council, no action has been taken by the authorities to implement it”.
The document was signed by some of the leading contenders, including former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, not related to the president, and detained anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomay Faye.
The letter, however, was not signed by Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who is the presidential camp’s own candidate.
One of two contenders said Monday she was withdrawing amid questions about her dual French-Senegalese nationality.
The Senegalese constitution does not allow dual nationals to run for the presidency.
Rose Wardini, a gynecologist and active member of civil society, said she would provide the courts with “all the evidence” regarding her exclusively Senegalese nationality.
She also called for elections to be held by April 2.
Karim Wade, a former minister and son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, was excluded from the race due to his dual French and Senegalese nationality.
He accused two judges of the Constitutional Council of corruption, which the presidential camp later used to justify postponing the elections.
The coalition backing his possible bid appeared on Monday to pin its hopes of victory on the dialogue promised by President Sall.
The coalition will “fully participate in the national dialogue”, which must take place “without delay”, said Amadou Lamine Thiam, who chairs the pro-Wade parliamentary group.
He said Wade, who has been living in exile in Qatar for several years, would soon return to Senegal and called on his supporters to give him an “unprecedentedly warm welcome” in the run-up to his “great victory” in the election.
