The Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) had on Friday requested the postponement of the February 25 presidential election via a bill given to parliament, quoting incidents it claimed had compromised the transparency and integrity of the vote.
Postponing the presidential poll would be unusual for Senegal, which has experienced four largely peaceful transitions of power via the ballot box since it got its independence from France in 1960.
PDS, the former ruling party of ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, had yet to propose a new date for the election.
The party’s candidate, Wade’s son Karim, was disqualified from the race to succeed President Macky Sall after the Constitutional court ruled that Wade was a dual citizen when he submitted his candidacy and therefore ineligible.
In a statement, PDS highlighted its concerns with the constitutional court’s decision-making, the removal of candidates and other issues that it said had steered the race in an unfavourable manner.
“The push for a later vote is part of our desire to protect the integrity and transparency of the process,” the statement read.
It has not been made clear how this proposed bill would be handled by parliament. The ruling coalition, (excluding PDS) has a majority of just one in the 165-seat house.
With less than three weeks until the vote, the race was further complicated on Friday by reports that one of the candidates, Rose Wardini was in police custody, although she is not considered a frontrunner among the 20 candidates.
