Postponement of the presidential election in Senegal is causing shock in the world.

The postponement validation decision of the presidential election and the extension of the mandate of President Macky Sall by the parliament shook the country. This announcement aroused criticism in Senegal, shared between astonishment and anger.

@photocredit: Senegalese flag fro StockIMg

“Like thousands of Senegalese, I feel frustrated because Macky Sall was not expected to postpone the election. This should be considered a constitutional coup,” said Adama Keneme, a resident of Dakar, expressing his disappointment on africanews media. This surprising decision reinforces the feeling of betrayal among many African and Senegalese citizens in particular.

I had a disappointment, but this disappointment is even stronger because Macky Sall told us that he had locked down the Constitution and no one could touch it no matter what. When he wanted to reduce his term to five years, he went to the Constitutional Council for a decision. But now he is turning to the parliament on this issue. I think the political class is fooling with us. The fact that Macky Sall is fooling with the Senegalese is extremely serious, said Lamine Dia, another resident of Dakar, and he is also  disappointed about the president.

This unimaginable and unexpected decision have nevertheless hit the Senegalese public opinion. According to Dr Mouhamed Alimou, a political scientist, this approach of the current regime is far from democratic, even bordering on authoritarian practices.

He believes that the much vaunted democratic model of Senegal is crumbling, and calls for a reinvention of this model. 

The vote in the parliament leaves a lot of uncertainty, and people fear the reaction of the opposition. Most of the opposition leaders have called for mobilisation to deal with what they call foul play. 

And yet in 2012, before getting into office, Macky Sall has stood against the decision of former President Wade, which was to postpone the presidential election in Senegal. 

ECOWAS: Double standards policy

ECOWAS as usual strongly condemns the military coups such as in Mali, Burkina and Niger. And when it comes to institutional coups, the bloc makes a false pretence of condemnation of constitutional coups whereby it kept silence concerning the constitutional coup in Cote d'Ivoire made by Ouattara.

Same in Senegal, where Macky Sall no longer hide his ambition to prolonge and lead Senegal for long. The economic community of West African states, known as ECOWAS, did not react significantly.

Some African citizens agree with the Burkinabé President Captain Ibrahim Traore who, in his recent interview with a journalist "Alain Foka", said:

” There are military coup leaders within ECOWAS, which today claim to be democrats. There are worse than putschists, and they kill their people in silence". 

Have “Burkina, Mali, Niger” done well to leave the ECOWAS bloc?

Loïck Mfumu Loubassa Mossipy