Senegal police clamp down on protesters as opposition rejects election delay

DAKAR, Senegal — Police made arrests and fired tear gas at opposition supporters during protests Sunday against the decision by President Macky Sall to postpone Senegal’s Feb. 25 elections as federal lawmakers prepared to debate a bill to formalize the postponement. The global Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the signal cutoff in a post on the social media platform X, urging Senegalese authorities to ensure that “journalists can work without hindrance.” Analysts say the crisis in Senegal is putting one of Africa’s most stable democracies to the test at a time when the region is struggling with a recent surge in coups. Several opposition figures rejected Sall’s decision to postpone the presidential election citing a dispute between the judiciary and parliament over the final list of candidates and those disqualified. “I am launching my electoral campaign tomorrow, in Dakar, with the candidates who have chosen to defend the Constitution,” former minister and opposition candidate Thierno Alassane Sall said Saturday in a post on social media platform X. Former mayor of the capital of Dakar Khalifa Sall also asked the citizens to “come together to save our democracy” while another opposition candidate, Déthié Fall, said, “We will start our campaign and we call on all candidates to do the same.” The U.S. Department of State noted Senegal’s “strong tradition of democracy and peaceful transitions of power” in a post on X, which urged “all participants in electoral process to engage peacefully to swiftly set a new date and the conditions for a timely, free and fair election.” In postponing the election by repealing a decree that set the electoral process in motion, Sall cited a dispute between the judiciary and federal lawmakers over the disqualification process and the reported dual nationality of some qualified candidates.