Senegal’s opposition is stepping up pressure on President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to fix a date for the country’s local elections, setting up what could be the first real test of strength between him and his estranged former ally, Ousmane Sonko.
The Senegal local elections, which will decide who runs the country’s municipal and departmental councils, have become a flashpoint since Faye fired Sonko as prime minister in May. That decision split the ruling camp into rival factions barely a year after the two men swept to power together.
Sonko, who returned to parliament soon after his sacking and now serves as speaker, has spent weeks demanding that the Senegal local elections go ahead on schedule. He accuses Faye of dragging his feet on the process and has openly mocked the president over the delay during a recent visit to northern Senegal.
According to Reuters, Faye has yet to sign either of the two decrees needed to launch the electoral process, one fixing the election date and another opening voter registration. Without both, the Senegal local elections cannot legally proceed.
Time is running short. Dakar University law lecturer Mor Fall says the electoral code requires the date decree to be published at least 80 days before voting. That means Faye would need to sign it by early November if the Senegal local elections are to hold before current mandates expire.
Yet Aminata Toure, an official in Faye’s newly formed Kiiraay party, recently suggested the president had all of 2027 to organise the vote. That comment has fuelled speculation in Dakar that a postponement is being weighed, even as pressure mounts from both flanks of the political divide.
The stakes go beyond scheduling. Many local councils are still controlled by the party of former president Macky Sall, who governed Senegal from 2012 to 2024. A strong opposition showing at the polls could weaken Faye’s standing well ahead of the 2029 presidential race, analysts say.
The FDR coalition, an opposition bloc led by Sall’s former ruling party, has also rejected any postponement or extension of council mandates, putting it in the unusual position of agreeing with Sonko’s Pastef camp on this single issue despite being political rivals on almost everything else.
For Faye, the calculation is delicate. A defeat for his side in the Senegal local elections would be read as an early verdict on his presidency and could embolden Sonko’s camp ahead of the next presidential contest. Delaying the vote carries its own risk, given Senegal’s recent history of election postponements triggering unrest.
The country’s last presidential election was itself delayed in 2024 after Sall attempted to push back the vote, a move the Constitutional Council later ruled unconstitutional. That episode still shapes how closely Senegalese voters and civil society groups are watching Faye’s next move on the local elections.
No date has yet been announced. With the November deadline for the decree approaching, both camps are watching closely to see whether Faye moves to hold the Senegal local elections on time or opts to buy himself more room.
