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SENEGAL: Kura za Uchaguzi Mkuu utakaoamua muelekeo mpya wa Taifa hilo zinatarajiwa kupigwa leo Machi 24, 2024 ambapo Wagombea 19 wanawania nafasi ya Urais kwa lengo la kumrithi Rais Macky Sall atakayemaliza utawala wa miaka 12 ifikapo Aprili 2, 2024
Uchaguzi huu unafanyika baada ya kuwepo mvutano ulioibuka mapema mwaka huu (2024) baada ya Rais Sall kubadili tarehe ya Uchaguzi kutoka Februari 25, 2024 hadi Desemba 2024, uamuzi ambao ulipingwa na Baraza la Katiba lililomtaka Sall kuitisha Uchaguzi haraka
Taarifa kutoka Senegal zinaeleza kuwa licha ya wingi wa Wagombea, wanaotajwa kuwa na nafasi zaidi ya kushinda ni Bassirou Diomaye Faye anayeungwa mkono na Wafuasi wa Ousmae Sonko kutoka upande wa Upinzania na Amadou Ba anayeungwa mkono na Chama Tawala
Zaidi ya masanduku 16,000 ya Kura yatafunguliwa kote nchini kuanzia saa 2:00 asubuhi hadi 12 jioni kwa saa za Senegal. Ili Mgombea atangazwe mshindi na kuepuka marudio ya uchaguzi, mgombea atalazimika kupata 50% ya Kura
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Senegal goes to the polls as country’s once sturdy democracy looks shaky
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, left, and Amadou Ba, right, are seen as main contenders in a long list of candidates.
Senegalese voters will choose their next president on Sunday in a delayed and high-stakes election that poses a test for the country’s democracy.
Outgoing President Macky Sall, whose second and final term expires on April 2, has promised to peacefully handover to his elected successor after the country’s top court blocked his attempts to delay the election – originally scheduled for February 24 – for 10 months.
A long list of candidates are running, but two former tax inspectors - one representing the government, the other the main opposition coalition - are considered frontrunners.
However, underlining deep-seated tensions, recent protests have turned deadly in the West African nation, with angry youths burning tires in the streets and calling for the vote to be held before Sall stepped down and not after, as he proposed.
Sall, who has led Senegal for 12 years, is leaving a checkered legacy and is accused of destabilizing the country through his attempts to prolong his grip on power by cracking down on the opposition and abruptly postponing polls just three weeks to the date.
However, Sall was unapologetic about delaying the vote.
“I have no apology to make because I did nothing wrong,” he told the BBC this week. “All the actions that have been taken have been within the framework of the law and the regulations.”
Senegal has been heralded as one of the most stable democracies in the coup-prone West African region.
Polls will open at 8:00 am (local time) Sunday and close at 6:00 pm, the electoral commission said, setting the stage for a fiercely contested presidential race that analysts say is open and uncertain.
In a tense political campaign season, analysts are braced for a potential outbreak of violence, says Ousmane Sene, who heads Dakar-based research organization, the West African Research Center (WARC).
“The risk of disruption is stronger if the Pastef candidate [of the main opposition coalition] loses as they are the ones who have been challenging the credibility of the Senegalese institutions.”
Who are the main candidates?
A diverse field of candidates are vying for the presidency and Sall’s successor will be elected from a pool of 19 candidates, each one promising reform to tackle some of the county’s most pressing problems.
Dakar-based political analyst Mamadou Thior, however, predicts a two-horse race between Sall’s handpicked candidate Amadou Ba of the ruling coalition, and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a substitute for prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko who was barred from the polls after the Senegalese Supreme Court upheld his conviction over a defam
ation case in early January.
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