Speech by President Macky Sall

Presidential Palace, February 3, 2024

My fellow citizens,

As the presidential election of February 25, 2024, approaches, our country has been facing, for a few days, a dispute between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council, in open conflict against the backdrop of an alleged corruption case of judges. Thus, the Assembly, based on its prerogatives, decided, by Resolution dated January 31, 2024, to set up a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to shed light on the process of verifying candidacies and on any other fact related to the election. In its communiqué of January 29, 2024, signed by all its members, the Constitutional Council refuted the allegations against it, while taking the measure of the seriousness of the accusations, and insisting that full light be shed in respect of the constitutional and legal procedures governing the relations between the institutions, notably the separation of powers and the status of its members. To this sufficiently serious and confused situation, has been added the controversy over a candidate whose dual nationality was discovered after the publication of the final list of candidates by the Constitutional Council; this constitutes a violation of Article 28 of the Constitution which stipulates that “any candidate for the Presidency of the Republic must be exclusively of Senegalese nationality”. These troubled conditions could seriously harm the credibility of the election by planting the seeds of a pre- and post-electoral dispute. While still bearing the scars of the violent protests of March 2021 and June 2023, our country cannot afford a new crisis. I add that in my capacity as President of the Republic, guarantor of the regular functioning of the Institutions, and respectful of the separation of powers, I cannot intervene in the conflict between the legislative and judicial powers. Faced with this situation, the National Assembly, acting under its prerogatives, has approached me for an opinion, in accordance with its internal regulations, on a proposed constitutional law in emergency procedure providing for a derogation from the provisions of Article 31 of the Constitution. I have taken note of this referral after consulting the President of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the President of the High Council of Territorial Collectivities, the President of the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council, and the President of the Constitutional Council. Consequently, considering the ongoing deliberations in the National Assembly convened in emergency procedure, and without prejudging the vote of the deputies, I have signed Decree No. 2024-106 of February 3, 2024, repealing Decree No. 2023-2283 of November 29, 2023, convening the electorate. For my part, my solemn commitment not to run in the presidential election remains unchanged. Finally, I will initiate an open national dialogue, in order to gather the conditions for a free, transparent, and inclusive election in a peaceful and reconciled Senegal. Long live Senegal! Long live the Republic!