Senegal’s former Prime Minister Aminata Toure, now a leading opposition figure, was arrested Sunday (Feb 4) in the capital Dakar amid protests against the indefinite postponement of the presidential election, reported news agency AFP. Meanwhile, chaos erupted in the capital city as hundreds took to the streets over the delay and clashed with the police.
Protests in Dakar, former PM arrested
Hundreds of opposition party supporters and police clashed after Senegalese President Macky Sall announced an indefinite postponement of a presidential election set for February 25, a day before official campaigning was due to begin.
Sall, on Saturday (Feb 3) cited a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court over the rejection of candidates as the reason for his intervention. The move has since sparked a wave of international concern and has been called by some opposition and civil society groups an “institutional coup”.
WATCH | Senegal: President Macky Sall has announced postponement of presidential polls
In the early signs of pushback against the postponement, around 200 protesters took to the streets waving Senegalese flags or wearing the jersey of the national football team early afternoon and blocked traffic on one of Dakar’s main streets. Some even burned tyres and threw rocks at the police.
This prompted the riot police to fire tear gas into the crowd and detain protesters. At least two opposition presidential candidates were reportedly detained by security forces.
Senegal’s former prime minister Toure was arrested, opposition deputy Guy Marius Sagna told AFP. “I confirm that Aminata Toure has been arrested by the gendarmes,” said Sagna.
Notably, Toure was appointed prime minister by the Sall before joining the opposition. Meanwhile, in an online post, candidate Daouda Ndiaye said he was attacked by police.
The former PM later confirmed that she had been detained and taken to a police station as she got out of her vehicle and called the incumbent president’s postponement an “unprecedented democratic regression.”
Further protests are expected outside parliament on Monday (Feb 5). Notably, Senegal has never delayed a presidential vote. The announcement has plunged the country, once known as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies, into chaos and uncertainty.
Other countries react
After Sall’s announcement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) expressed concern about the circumstances that led to the postponement of the elections and called for a new date to be set quickly.
France, on Sunday, also called on the Senegalese president to end the “uncertainty” created and called for a vote “as soon as possible”.
“We call on authorities to end the uncertainty about the electoral calendar so the vote can be held as soon as possible, under the rules of Senegalese democracy,” said the French foreign ministry, in a statement.
The European Union spokesperson Nabila Massrali echoed a similar call and said that the 27-nation bloc calls on “all actors to work…for the staging of a transparent, inclusive and credible election as soon as possible.”
The US State Department urged Senegal to “swiftly” set a date for a “timely, free and fair election,” in a post on X. It added, “We acknowledge allegations of irregularities, but we are deeply concerned about the disruption to the presidential electoral calendar.”
(With inputs from agencies)
