The calendar changes angered the opposition and many citizens.
The electoral campaign for the presidential election on March 24 in Senegal actually began on Saturday with a first public rally in Dakar organized by one of the 19 candidates in the running, noted an AFP journalist.
Khalifa Sall, one of the main candidates in the election and former mayor of Dakar, began a tour of several districts of the capital shortly after 5 p.m. (local and GMT).
A few hundred sympathizers, who had patiently awaited his arrival in a festive atmosphere, to the sounds of percussionists and songs broadcast at full volume from large speakers, welcomed him with a joyous uproar, with applause.
The coalition of anti-system candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is starting the race for the presidency behind bars, is also planning a “caravan” to Dakar later in the afternoon, after the presentation of its program to the press.
One month postponement
The candidate of the presidential camp, Amadou Ba, was to meet his campaign board on Saturday afternoon.
Previously, he carried out the transfer of power with his successor as Prime Minister, Sidiki Kaba, appointed in his place on Wednesday following a cabinet reshuffle to allow him to campaign.
The Senegalese were supposed to vote on February 25.
But President Macky Sall caused a national commotion by postponing the vote to February 3, just before the opening of the campaign.
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“A Constitutional coup d’état”: tension rises in Senegal after the postponement of the presidential election
After a month of uncertainty which alarmed national opinion and part of the international community, the date of the presidential election was finally set for March 24, before the expiration of Macky Sall's mandate on April 2.
The campaign has been reduced by necessity from three to two weeks and will end on March 22 at midnight.
It will largely be held during the Muslim fasting month.
Many Senegalese expressed to AFP their impatience to vote and turn the page.