Brussels, 22/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Stop the violence, said the electoral observation mission of the European Union (EU EOM), five days ahead of the presidential elections in Senegal. With trouble intensifying between the opponents to the candidacy of Abdoulaye Wade, who have been banned from demonstrating, and the forces of order, with clashes having so far left six dead and in which Youssou Ndour, the candidate put forward by the Constitutional Council, was injured on the evening of Tuesday 21, the EU EOM has broken its silence to speak out against “any recourse to violence, both by the forces of order and demonstrators”. It has called for “an end to the violence and respect for the peaceful nature of any democratic political debate to allow the Senegalese electorate to peacefully exercise their right to vote on 26 February”.
The mission spoke of its concerns regarding the ban on demonstrations set in place by the minister for the interior and stressed that the right to demonstrate, which is recognised by Article 62 of the electoral code, provides for a derogation to the possibility to ban demonstrations participated in by candidates to the presidential elections, in order to guarantee the freedom of election rallies during the campaign. “This principle is laid down in the right to demonstrate freely, in line with the Senegalese constitution”, says the EU EOM in a press release.
The mission also expresses its disappointment at the fact that no provisions have so far been taken by the electoral authorities to publish regular reports on the state of progress with the distribution of voting cards, a shortcoming it previously noted on 15 February. The EU EOM is therefore reiterating its calls for more transparency in the matter. In order to ensure the necessary transparency for the voting operations and in line with new provisions of the electoral code authorising the withdrawal of voting cards up to the day before the election (25 February), the mission calls upon the minister with responsibility for the elections, the autonomous national electoral commission, the political parties and civil society to pay particular attention to procedures to check the number of voting cards not distributed before and after the election date. (AN/transl.fl)