Senegalese vote in legislative elections with low turnout

Senegalese vote in legislative elections with low turnout

More than seven million Senegalese are called this Sunday to the polls in legislative elections marked at the moment by low turnout and which are seen as a prelude to the next presidential elections in 2024.

“As in the past, I am confident that voters will vote in the best conditions of freedom and transparency that will ensure the sincerity of the vote,” said Senegalese President Macky Sall, after casting his vote in the town of Fatick, about 140 kilometers south of Dakar, where he was born.

“Beyond our individual elections, there is everything that we share and that we must preserve as a united and supportive nation,” added the head of state, according to local media.

Benno Bokk Yakaar (United for Hope), the coalition Sall’s party is a part of, currently holds an absolute majority in the chamber, with 125 of the 165 seats.

For his part, Ousmane Sonko, leader of the main opposition coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi (Free the People), called on the population to vote because “it is the only way to end this regime”, after casting their vote in the town of Ziguinchor.

Osumane has been mayor of this key city in the south of the country since the victory of his formation in the local elections on January 23.

«A historically low abstention rate must be avoided. It is not good for democracy. The Senegalese must go out to vote en masse (…) We must have a participation rate of 60%, ”Sonko asked.

At the beginning of June, the Constitutional Council rejected the main list of Yewwi Askan Wi, arguing that it did not respect the law on parity between men and women, something that did not prevent Sonko – who will not be able to repeat as a deputy for this reason – from campaigning for his list of substitutes.

According to the Senegalese Electoral Code, in addition to the main list of candidates (incumbent), a list of substitutes with the same number of positions is presented to avoid possible vacancies.

More than 15,000 polling stations in Senegalese territory and in the diaspora opened today without major delays for the most part, at 08:00 local time (same GMT).

The National Autonomous Electoral Commission (CENA) distributed some 22,000 observers in the polling stations, who supervise the voting together with the electoral missions deployed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), the International Organization of the Francophonie and the United Nations.

The elections are currently taking place without any notable incidents, despite previous concerns about the mobilization capacity of the youth of Sonko, which has degenerated on multiple occasions into violent protests and clashes between the security forces, demonstrators and, according to the opposition , “thugs” sent by the party in power.

In March 2021, Senegal experienced serious riots that caused 13 deaths, according to the authorities, after the arrest of Sonko for disturbing public order when his convoy, surrounded by dozens of followers, was on its way to a court in Dakar.

The opposition leader had been summoned to justice after being accused by a masseuse of having “demanded sexual favors” several times after the massage sessions and having threatened her with “two weapons.”

Sonko came third in the 2019 presidential election, in which Macky Sall won a second term, but is the main opposition leader after second-place candidate Idrissa Seck joined the ruling majority. EFE



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