Politics

Senegal: Ruling coalition wins majority seats in parliamentary election

Published

2 years ago

August 1, 2022

The ruling coalition in Senegal has won 30 of the country’s 46 administrative departments in the just concluded parliamentary elections.

The poll result positions President Macky Sall’s party as slim majority parliament following Sunday’s legislative election.

Aminata Toure who led the ruling coalition’s list in the legislative election announced the partial results on national television from the party’s headquarters early on Monday after Sunday’s vote.

“This gives us an unquestionable majority,” Toure said to the cheers of supporters. She did not say how many of the 165 parliamentary seats the party won.

The mayor of the capital Dakar, Barthelemy Dias, who is a leader of the main opposition coalition which has been energized by economic hardship and fears of Sall’s third term ambition, immediately disputed the results announced by Toure, warning that it was not her place to announce results of the election.

“The people will respond, and the people will come out into the streets tomorrow, and you will tell us where you got your majority,” Dias said.

Senegalese voted this Sunday to elect the country’s deputies. These elections stand as a decisive test for opposition parties trying to tackle the ruling party’s influence head of the presidential election in 2024.

There are fears that President Macky Sall may seek a third term.

The political atmosphere is tense in the Western African country even more so since the list of the opponent Ousmane Sonko was rejected for this vote.

Politics

Mali’s junta names spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga new Prime Minister

Published

8 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A day after dismissing Choguel Maiga for criticising the government, Mali’s governing junta named its spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, as Prime Minister on Thursday, according to state broadcaster, ORTM.

A source close to Choguel Maiga told Reuters that the ruling generals were incensed by Maiga’s remarks over the weekend denouncing the junta’s inability to hold elections within the 24-month timeframe given for the return to democracy.

After promising to hold elections in February, the military authorities, who took control in two separate coups in 2020 and 2021, have put off the poll indefinitely, citing technological difficulties.

Choguel Maiga’s firing coincides with indications of growing discontent and disarray among Mali politicians, even those who first supported the coup and collaborated with the junta.

As the wait for elections continues, Choguel Maiga, a civilian prime minister who was installed by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent to lose support.

He was cited on Saturday as claiming he learnt of the junta’s decision via the media and that there had been no discussion regarding the delay of the elections inside the cabinet.

“It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Choguel Maiga told reporters.

Before then, he had frequently stood up for Mali’s junta against criticism from foreign friends and neighbours in West Africa who denounced its repeated election delays and military collaboration with Russian mercenaries.

As government spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, the new prime minister, has also made strong public remarks against France, the previous colonial master. One such speech was demanding French President Emmanuel Macron to stop his “neocolonial” and “condescending” behaviour.

Abdoulaye Maiga and Assimi Goita, the leaders of the junta, announced they had kept all of the important cabinet ministers in their portfolios in the new administration in a statement that was broadcast on state television ORTM.

The announcement said that Abdoulaye Maiga will remain minister of territory administration.

Politics

Congo opposition mobilizes protests against constitution review

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to President Felix Tshisekedi’s intentions to amend the constitution, opposition lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have called for national protests on Wednesday.

Tshisekedi, who was sworn in for his second and last term in January, said that a panel would be formed in October to recommend possible constitutional amendments.

According to critics, it may be a ploy to lift term restrictions and give him another chance to run.

Tshisekedi said the current constitution, ratified by a referendum in 2005, needed to change because it did not align with the country’s current realities.

Opposition politicians, including former president Joseph Kabila and past presidential candidates Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, issued a unified statement on Wednesday urging rallies to “block” Tshisekedi.

A request for a response from the Congo’s presidency was not answered.

Patrick Muyaya, the minister of communications, stated on Monday that discussions surrounding the constitutional revision should be de-politicized and that no one should doubt the president’s intentions.

“We’re at the beginning of our mandate… The President of the Republic still has four years to go, and we must avoid attributing intentions to him,” Muyaya told reporters.