A student has lost his life in Saint-Louis, Senegal, amid violent protests sparked by the postponement of the presidential election.
Clashes between demonstrators and security forces engulfed Senegal’s capital and other cities, marking the first widespread unrest following the decision to delay the vote, stirring concerns of prolonged instability.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Ministry of Interior and Public Security acknowledged the death of student Alpha Yero Tounkara, pledging an investigation while refuting responsibility for the incident.
The Ministry stated, “The Defence and Security Forces did not intervene to maintain order on the university campus where the death occurred.”
The situation on Saturday regarding ongoing protests remained unclear. However, any further confrontations with security forces would exacerbate apprehensions of democratic regression.
With less than three weeks left before the scheduled February 25 presidential election, parliament’s decision to postpone it until December elongated President Macky Sall’s tenure, sparking worries about the integrity of one of West Africa’s few remaining democracies, which has faced coup attempts in the past.
The parliamentary vote to delay the election transpired amid the forceful removal of opposition lawmakers from the chamber, prompting legal challenges against the postponement by 39 members of the opposition coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi, and several opposition presidential candidates.
President Sall defended the postponement as a measure to rebuild confidence in the electoral process following concerns raised about the candidate list.
Nevertheless, discontent persisted, with critics condemning the move as an “institutional coup.”
Expressing frustration, a protester conveyed to the media, “We are fed with Macky Sall, he already had two terms what else does he want?”
Source-Aljazeera
