Today in Senegal, the Aar Sunu Election collective is launching a call for mobilization by organizing a ghost town day and a general strike throughout the country to demand the departure of President Macky Sall before April 2, the end of his mandate. Despite this call, the mobilization seems mixed, particularly in Dakar where the city continues to function normally at the start of the day.
The Aar sunu Election collective, which means “Let’s protect our election”, wishes to denounce what it considers to be a confiscation of the popular will by the current president. The objective is therefore to push for new elections to be organized before April 2.
However, the ghost town day is not followed uniformly. If some teachers’ unions have decided to strike, many traders and craftsmen seem not to be informed or not to be able to afford to close their establishments for an entire day.
At the same time, President Macky Sall continues to promote dialogue to determine a new election date, while many candidates and organizations have not been validated for the initial election on February 25. This dialogue should lead to conclusions which will be communicated to the president this evening.
This situation highlights the tensions and divergences within Senegalese society, between those who call for mobilization and those who advocate dialogue to resolve the current political crisis. It should be noted that the situation remains evolving and that further events could have a major impact on the country.