{"id":72864,"date":"2024-02-09T18:46:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kfm.co.ug\/?p=72864"},"modified":"2024-02-09T18:46:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:46:22","slug":"senegalese-urged-to-turn-out-to-oppose-presidential-election-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/senegalese-urged-to-turn-out-to-oppose-presidential-election-delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Senegalese urged to turn out to oppose presidential election delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AFP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senegalese were urged on Friday to turn out and show their opposition to a last-minute delay of presidential polls, in a test of the balance of power between President Macky Sall and opponents.<\/p>\n

On Monday parliament backed Sall’s sudden decision to postpone the February 25 election by 10 months, sparking a fierce opposition backlash and international concern.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented move has called into question the West African country’s reputation for democratic stability in a region beset by military coups.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Dozens of religious and citizens’ groups and professional organisations, which have teamed up in a newly formed collective, issued an appeal for people to attend Friday prayers dressed in white and the national colours.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dakar residents have also been urged via social media to demonstrate later on Friday on the large Place de la Nation square near the centre of the capital.<\/p>\n

The identity of those calling for the rally has not been revealed. However, several candidates for the postponed presidential ballot have announced they plan to join the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Teachers also faced a call to walk out from schools on Friday by education unions within the civil society platform Aar Sunu Election (Let’s Protect Our Election).<\/p>\n

At Blaise Diagne high school in Dakar, hundreds of pupils left their lessons mid-morning after teachers heeded the call.<\/p>\n

History and geography teacher Assane Sene said it was just the start of the battle.<\/p>\n

“If the government is stubborn, we will have to try different approaches,” he said.<\/p>\n

The platform has also asked Christians to dress in white for church on Sunday and is planning a demonstration on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Friday’s planned day of action could indicate the weight of opposition to the electoral delay, which has pitched Senegal into uncharted waters.<\/p>\n

– Peaceful protest –<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vote by MPs to delay the presidential election paved the way for Sall — whose second term expires in early April — to remain in office until his successor is installed, probably in 2025.<\/p>\n

A new date for the presidential election has been set for December 15.<\/p>\n

The decision has unleashed widespread anger on social media and the opposition has condemned it as a “constitutional coup”.<\/p>\n

But beyond the online reaction, the outcry has only materialised into sporadic reaction on the streets.<\/p>\n

Security forces have quashed attempts to demonstrate and arrested dozens of people.<\/p>\n

The authorities have not publicly said how they will respond to the planned demonstration in central Dakar on Friday.<\/p>\n

Senegalese were urged on Friday to turn out and show their opposition to a last-minute delay of presidential polls, in a test of the balance of power between President Macky Sall and opponents.<\/p>\n

On Monday parliament backed Sall’s sudden decision to postpone the February 25 election by 10 months, sparking a fierce opposition backlash and international concern.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented move has called into question the West African country’s reputation for democratic stability in a region beset by military coups.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Dozens of religious and citizens’ groups and professional organisations, which have teamed up in a newly formed collective, issued an appeal for people to attend Friday prayers dressed in white and the national colours.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dakar residents have also been urged via social media to demonstrate later on Friday on the large Place de la Nation square near the centre of the capital.<\/p>\n

The identity of those calling for the rally has not been revealed. However, several candidates for the postponed presidential ballot have announced they plan to join the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Teachers also faced a call to walk out from schools on Friday by education unions within the civil society platform Aar Sunu Election (Let’s Protect Our Election).<\/p>\n

At Blaise Diagne high school in Dakar, hundreds of pupils left their lessons mid-morning after teachers heeded the call.<\/p>\n

History and geography teacher Assane Sene said it was just the start of the battle.<\/p>\n

“If the government is stubborn, we will have to try different approaches,” he said.<\/p>\n

The platform has also asked Christians to dress in white for church on Sunday and is planning a demonstration on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Friday’s planned day of action could indicate the weight of opposition to the electoral delay, which has pitched Senegal into uncharted waters.<\/p>\n

– Peaceful protest –<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vote by MPs to delay the presidential election paved the way for Sall — whose second term expires in early April — to remain in office until his successor is installed, probably in 2025.<\/p>\n

A new date for the presidential election has been set for December 15.<\/p>\n

The decision has unleashed widespread anger on social media and the opposition has condemned it as a “constitutional coup”.<\/p>\n

But beyond the online reaction, the outcry has only materialised into sporadic reaction on the streets.<\/p>\n

Security forces have quashed attempts to demonstrate and arrested dozens of people.<\/p>\n

The authorities have not publicly said how they will respond to the planned demonstration in central Dakar on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By AFP Senegalese were urged on Friday to turn out and show their opposition to a last-minute delay of presidential polls, in a test of the balance of power between President Macky Sall and opponents. On Monday parliament backed Sall’s sudden decision to postpone the February 25 election by 10 months, sparking a fierce opposition backlash and international concern. The unprecedented move has called into question the West African country’s reputation for democratic stability in a region beset by military coups. Dozens of religious and citizens’ groups and professional organisations, which have teamed up in a newly formed collective, issued an appeal for people to attend Friday prayers dressed in white and the national colours. Dakar residents have also been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":72869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[1051],"class_list":["post-72864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-senegal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kfm.dembefm.ug\/staging_h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}