Senegal needs to 'be really peaceful, maintain these candidates, go to elections and move forward'

A national dialogue panel in Senegal proposed holding elections in early June, the first proposed new date offered since the president attempted to push elections back to the end of the year. President Macky Sall, who faces term limits at the end of his second term, said in early February he was postponing an election for 10 months, just weeks before it was set to take place on Feb. 25. But Senegal’s highest election authority, the Constitutional Council, rejected that move and ordered the government to set a new election date as soon as possible. Sall called for a two-day national dialogue earlier this week, aiming at fostering trust among the candidates and the population. Civil, political and religious leaders attended, but almost all of the candidates on the ballot refused to participate. On Tuesday, the panel proposed holding the vote on June 2. Sall has said that he will step down by April 2, which is the end of his current term, but it's unclear who will take over if elections are not held before that. Senegal has been seen as a rare stable democracy in a region rife with coups. The delay of the vote has sparked deadly protests across the country. Nwo that the Senegal dialogue panel has proposed June elections, FRANCE 24's François Picard is joined by Cheikhou Oumar sy, former Special Advisor to PM Amadou Ba.