Senegal: Head of ECOWAS Observer Mission Meets Stakeholders in Preparation for the Country’s Presidential Election

Ahead of the Senegalese presidential election slated for 24 March 2024, Head of the ECOWAS Presidential Election Observation Mission to Senegal, H.E. Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari met with stakeholders and interest groups in Dakar to press home the need for a peaceful, free, fair and credible poll. 

Professor Gambari who was accompanied by the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah conferred with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, S.E.M Mankeur Ndiaye, where he expressed the overriding wish of the regional organization for “a peaceful, and transparent exercise that reflects the will of the people of Senegal”.

He stated that the deployment of 130 member long and short-term observers from ECOWAS is meant to demonstrate commitment of ECOWAS to accompany the process to a successful conclusion.

Minister Ndiaye gave assurances of the readiness of the administration in Senegal to conduct free and fair polls with necessary equipment and adequate security measures being put in place.

The ECOWAS team which also consists of the Head, Electoral Assistance Division Mr. Serigne Ka and his counterpart in charge of Democracy and Good Governance Mr. Ebenezer Asiedu, also met representatives of the Coalition of Civil Societies, in continuation of the assessment of the general situation on ground, and the commitment of the governance institutions, agencies as well as the preparedness of the populace for the exercise.

The representatives of the civil societies were told by the Head of Mission not to give up on upholding democratic ethos but to use the influence built to promote peaceful coexistence.

Speaking on behalf of the Civil Society Organisations, the Director General of Programme to Support Educational Change and Transformation (PACTE) Mr. Djibril Gningue highlighted some of the challenges observed by the Civil Societies Organisations in the processes leading to the election and current efforts being made to address them.

Professor Gambari had earlier met with Mr. Abdoulaye Sylla, the President of the Commission Electorale Nationale Autonome (CENA) as well as Ambassadors of ECOWAS countries resident in Senegal, the dean of the African diplomatic corps and Mr. Alioune Tine founder of the Afrikajom Center and human rights fighter veteran.

Earlier, the Election observers were trained on the use of electronic tablets for the exercise in order to transmit real time data to the ECOWAS situation room on the Election Day.

For the 2024 presidential election, Senegalese citizens residing abroad are voting to elect a new president in one of the bastions of democracy in West Africa.