The Confederation for Democracy and Socialism, a coalition of nine popular parties, in a Feb. 2 statement released in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, wrote: “For the CDS member parties, postponing the elections is not only legally impossible but also politically inappropriate. There is no institutional crisis in the country, no interruption in the regular functioning of institutions that could justify such a postponement.” They demanded that Sall schedule the election for Feb. 25.

A Feb. 24 demonstration supported this demand, according to El Salto, a left-wing Spanish newspaper: “‘We took to the streets to ask Macky Sall to call elections before April 2,’ explained Ana, 32 years old. She was taking part in a peaceful protest in favor of the party of the opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, imprisoned since June 2023, attended by several hundred people on February 24 in the center of Dakar.”

More demonstrations in Dakar protested the election postponement in early March. The struggle over scheduling the election is really a struggle over letting the party in power, the Alliance for the Republic, rig the elections.

Senegal is a member of ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, along with Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. In its 50 years, ECOWAS has been the regional organization coordinating the economic development of its members.