Senegal: Macky Sall rules out third presidential term
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After months of speculation about whether he would be running for a third term, Senegal’s President Macky Sall on Monday said that he would not be doing so in the upcoming elections.
Until yesterday, President Sall’s coyness about his plans had fuelled tensions over whether a constitutional revision would be deployed to extend the two terms that had been the norm in the West African country. Yesterday’s announcement in a televised address clears the path for contested elections in Senegal.
“My dear fellow citizens, my decision after long consideration is to not be a candidate in the election on February 25, 2024,” Sall said.
“Senegal is more than me, and is full of capable leaders for the country’s development,” he added.
Sall said he had sought to prioritise his country’s progress, “in particular at a time of social-economic difficulties and uncertainties.”
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Mr Sall was first elected in 2012 for a seven-year term and again in 2019 for a five-year term, following a constitutional revision of the length of presidential terms. The constitution of Senegal stipulates that a president cannot serve more than two terms.
Supporters of President Sall, however, argued that this term had been “reset” to zero after a 2016 constitutional amendment. Sall had in the past campaigned against a third term by his predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, who was in power from 2000 to 2012, and had said he would not seek re-election.
Ousmane Sonko and the opposition
On the eve of Sall’s nationwide address, his political rival and fiercest critic, Ousmane Sonko, urged people to “come out en masse” in dissent of Mr Sall’s presidency. Violence had erupted last month between Sonko supporters and the police. At least 16 people were reported to have died in the clashes.
Mr Sonko has labelled the incumbent as a corrupt dictator who is hellbent on accruing and consolidating power at all costs.
“It’s incumbent on all the Senegalese people to stand up, to face him,” Sonko said on Sunday.
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He has accrued a large following mainly comprised of disaffected youth and marginalized poor. Sonko was sentenced on June 1 to two years’ jail for “corrupting” a young beauty salon worker, sparking protests which led to 16 deaths according to the government, 24 according to Amnesty International, and 30 according to Sonko’s party.
The conviction makes him ineligible to stand in 2024. Sonko says the case was staged to prevent him from running, a charge authorities deny. He has been blocked in by the authorities at his home since May 28.
