2024 — Senegal's Court Saves the Election

On February 15, 2024, Senegal's Constitutional Council struck down President Macky Sall's decree postponing the presidential election, ruling it had no legal basis. The court also annulled parliament's February 5 law delaying the vote to December, and ordered the election held as soon as possible.

The election took place on March 24, and opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye won. It was a rare moment: an African court overruling a sitting president and rescuing a democracy. Judges, not soldiers or crowds, defended the timetable of the vote, and Senegal's election went ahead because its highest court said it must. The constitution, tested, had held.