Following a decision by Senegal’s National Audiovisual Regulatory Council (CNRA), Bassirou Diomaye Faye – the number 2 of the dissolved opposition party Pastef led by Ousmane Sonko – has been deprived of his airtime on the public television channel RTS. The CNRA argues that only the presidential candidate can appear in these three-minute campaign videos, which are broadcasted daily on the public television channel.

As Bassirou Diomaye Faye is still in preventive detention, it was his campaign director, Mustapha Guirassy, who read a statement signed by the candidate in front of the camera. However, the media regulatory body ordered RTS to remove the video, which was therefore not broadcasted on Sunday as planned.

Pastef denounces an infringement on the principle of equality among candidates and a violation of the law, as Bassirou Diomaye Faye is effectively deprived of the opportunity to present his program every day during these three minutes. According to the candidate’s representative, Amadou Ba, “nowhere is it mentioned that only the candidate should speak in these famous videos.”

He intends to “formally warn the director of the CNRA to comply with the law” and “petition the national electoral commission to annul the decision of the regulatory body,” he announced. He also requests RTS to broadcast statements from personalities chosen by the candidate while he is in prison.

The Supreme Court petitioned by the PDS

The political climate remains tense in the country, with the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of the disqualified candidate Karim Wade, which has filed a petition before the Supreme Court for violation of the electoral law.

This includes notably the two following provisions: the electoral body must normally be convened 80 days before the presidential election, and the first round of the electoral campaign must last 21 days, which is obviously not the case with a presidential election on March 24.

The PDS hopes that the Supreme Court will confirm this violation of the electoral law and render the electoral body decree void. Will the Supreme Court declare itself competent, and will this petition have an impact on the election schedule? That is the question, but according to several jurists, for decrees relating to the presidential election, only the Constitutional Council is competent. However, the latter has already validated the decision to hold the election on March 24.”