Senegal’s President postpones elections

Senegal’s outgoing president, Macky Sall, has postponed the country’s presidential election scheduled to take place this month, BBC is reporting.

He said holding the election as scheduled “could gravely hurt” the ballot. He, however, did not set a new date.

According to the BBC, Mr Sall said he would start “an open national dialogue… to create the conditions for a free, transparent and inclusive election in a peaceful and reconciled Senegal.”

There had been several complaints after dozens of candidates were barred from standing in the election.

Amid controversy, a constitutional council had prevented several hopefuls including some high-profile politicians from running.

Mr Sall stated earlier that he would not be seeking re-election, after serving for two terms.

An opposition candidate called the president’s decision to postpone the election a constitutional coup.

Khalifa Sall, former mayor of the capital, Dakar, urged people to protest against the move and his political coalition has pledged to go to court.

An organisation of influential Islamic clerics had warned against postponing the vote, saying it risked destabilising the nation.

Twenty candidates had made the final list, but among the most prominent of those who had been excluded from the original vote, scheduled for 25 February, was opposition politician Ousmane Sonko.

He was barred because of a libel conviction. He claimed he had been the victim of a campaign to stop him standing for president.

Karim Wade, the son of a former president, was also prevented from taking part because he is allegedly a French citizen as well as being Senegalese. He has described the accusation as “scandalous”, the AFP news agency reports.

Mr Wade’s backers in parliament questioned the neutrality of two of the judges on the panel that decided on the final list of candidates.

Some politicians have argued that the rules for candidacy were not applied fairly, something the authorities have denied.