It was a running campaign that began in Senegal, shortened by two weeks before the first round of the presidential election, which will take place on March 24. Several candidates launched their electoral caravan in Dakar this weekend, in the hope of convincing as many voters as possible. But the big absentee for the moment remains the candidate of the dissolved Pastef party, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
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With our correspondent in Dakar, Léa-Lisa Westerhoff
At Senegal, after a decision by the National Audiovisual Regulatory Council (CNRA), Bassirou Diomaye Faye – number 2 of the dissolved Pastef party of opponent Ousmane Sonko – was deprived of his airtime on public television RTS. The CNRA believes that only the presidential candidate can appear on these campaign videos which last three minutes, and which are broadcast every day on the public television channel.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye being still in preventive detention, it was his campaign director, Mustapha Guirassy, who read a declaration signed by the candidate on camera. Impossible, replies the media regulatory body, which ordered RTS to remove the video and which was therefore not broadcast on Sunday as planned.
Le Pastef denounces an attack to the principle of equality between candidates and a violation of the law, because in fact, Bassirou Diomaye Faye is therefore deprived of the possibility of presenting his program every day for these three minutes. According to the candidate’s representative, Amadou Ba, “ it is nowhere mentioned that only the candidate must speak in these famous videos “.
He counts ” put the director of the CNRA on notice to force him to comply with the law ” And ” apply to the national electoral commission to annul the decision of the regulatory body “, he announced. He also asks RTS to broadcast the declarations of the personalities chosen by the candidate while he is in prison.
The Supreme Court seized by the PDS
The political climate therefore remains electric in the country, with in parallel the Senegalese Democratic Party of failed candidate Karim Wade, who is about to file an appeal before the Supreme Court for violation of the electoral law.
Included in particular are the following two provisions: the fact that the electorate must normally be convened 80 days before the presidential election, and the fact that the electoral campaign for the first round must last 21 days, which is obviously not the case with a presidential election on March 24.
The PDS hopes that the Supreme Court will confirm this violation of the electoral law and render the electoral body decree null and void. Will the Supreme Court declare itself competent, and will this appeal have an impact on the election timetable? That’s the whole question, but according to several jurists, for decrees relating to the presidential election, only the Constitutional Council is competent. However, the latter has already validated the decision to organize the vote on March 24.
Read alsoPresidential election in Senegal: the various candidates send their electoral caravans from Dakar