Now that the decision of the Constitutional Council has been rendered, invalidating the postponement of the date of the presidential election, the question is when will this date of the first round take place? For specialists in constitutional law, this is very clear: if we stick to what the Senegalese Constitution says and taking into account the deadlines (30 days at the latest before the end of Macky Sall’s mandate on April 2 ) this date of the first round can only be Sunday March 3.
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If we stick to the text stricto sensu, there is no longer much room for maneuver for the first round of the presidential election to be held within the deadlines provided for by the Constitution.
In their chronology, the texts provide that the first round must take place on a Sunday and within a maximum of forty-five days or a minimum of thirty days before the end of the mandate of the president in place.
The expiry of Macky Sall’s mandate being April 2, constitutionalists conclude that the vote of Senegalese voters can only be done on Sunday March 3, 2024.
We would then have an electoral campaign shortened by barely ten days – compared to twenty-one in normal times – and this provided that the Senegalese president decides to convene the electoral body on March 3. “ Twenty-one days of campaigning are the custom, but given the context and the need to quickly organize the vote, this time can be reduced » explains Sidy Alpha Ndiaye, associate professor of public law and teacher at Cheick Anta Diop University in Dakar.
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Of course, there is a step from legal theory to Senegalese political practice. How to organize a national dialogue announced by the president, an electoral campaign and a vote within such a tight deadline? As such and to be certain that the date of March 3 is respected, the lawyer and member of the opposition party Rewmi Thierno Bocoum regrets that the Constitutional Council did not protect Senegal from a new deadline, by not showing itself more precise on “ the range of Article 31 which requires the presidential election to be held no later than March 3 “.
The constitutionalists do not prejudge the political quibbles and the decision that Macky Sall will take in the coming hours to call the vote or not. But some believe that after this snub suffered by the presidency, a new violation of the Senegalese Constitution would be perilous.
The Council has clearly said that the presidential election cannot be postponed beyond the expiration date of the president’s mandate. If this were the case, we would be in a fairly dangerous scenario.
Sidy Alpha Ndiaye, associate professor of public law and teacher at Cheick Anta Diop University in Dakar
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