Since the postponement of the 2024 presidential election in Senegal, the constitutional council had asked the president to fix a new date by decree. The previous date given was considered to be unrealisable. The executive was of the impression that it could not hold election until the constitutional council decides on the proposals made at the national dialogue. The constitutional council had made its decision to set a date for election only to withdraw the date with the acknowledgement that it is the mandate of the president to set the date. Now the president has set the date to 24th march.
The withdrawal of the date of council signifies that the council relied on an assumed prerogative which was not based on constitutional provision. Now the president has also not relied on any constitutional provision to set the date to 24th March, 2024.
There is a battle of prerogatives between the president and the constitutional council because the Senegalese Constitution does not provide for a basis for addressing such impasse.
How the situation will evolve in Senegal needs to be monitored and a letter written by Halifa Sallah to the President of Senegal should make interesting reading on the complexities and possible way forward that may be free from an impasse or constitutional crisis. A Foroyaa supplement in that regard is in circulation.
