The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has asked Senegal to urgently restore its electoral calendar.
This after concerns that the decision to postpone the presidential election that was due to take place this month, may contravene the provisions of the country’s constitution.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall decided to postpone the elections due to the ongoing dispute over the candidate list and alleged corruption within the constitutional body that handled the list.
However, opposition leaders have condemned the delay.
Policy analyst Emmanuel Bensah says, “It totally goes against everything that ECOWAS has instructed member states not to do. According to ECOWAS’ protocols, the protocol on good governance and democracy, nothing that there must be no changes to the electoral calendar or around the electrodynamics six months to the election. And this is not even six months. This is literally a couple of weeks away. And Macky Sall, someone who has been an ECOWAS chair, knows this. He’s simply contravening the principles that he has agreed to adhere to.”
