Senegalese President Macky Sall will end the suspense: he must announce Monday night if he will be a candidate for a third term for the presidential election of 2024 in a climate of high tension, his main opponent calling for massive demonstrations whatever his choice.
For months, the head of state has maintained the vagueness on his candidacy, leaving the Senegalese to speculate in anticipation of this decision that could defuse the political climate if he withdraws, or cause a new fever if he acts his participation. He will deliver his speech at 20 p.m. (local and GMT), live on public television RTS.
Explosive climate
After having been a leader of the movement against the candidacy for a third term of his predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, in power from 2000 to 2012, and having repeatedly maintained that he would serve only two terms, President Sall has refused for several months to remove doubt about his intentions and has not placed any dolphin on the front of the stage. Elected in 2012, re-elected in 2019, he had the Constitution revised in 2016. It states that "no one may serve more than two consecutive terms". His opponents therefore believe that he is completing his two legal terms. But his supporters are presenting him as their candidate in 2024, arguing that the revision has reset the clock. For him, the legal debate is decided in his favor. There remain the political considerations.
The climate is explosive in Senegal. On 1 June, opposition politician Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison in a morality case. His conviction renders him ineligible. It caused in early June the most serious unrest in years in Senegal, leaving 16 dead according to the authorities, 24 according to Amnesty International and thirty according to the opposition. Ousmane Sonko, who enjoys great popularity among young people, has not ceased to cry the plot of the power to exclude him from the presidential election of February 2024, which the power denies. He has been blocked by security forces at his home in Dakar, "kidnapped" according to him, since May 28.
In a video Sunday night on social networks, the opponent called on Senegalese to demonstrate "massively" in the coming days. "We must come out to confront the regime of Macky Sall and say that it will not be up to him to choose the candidates who will have to face each other for the next presidential election," he said. According to the opponent, if the president does not run, it would be to better eliminate him. In case of arrest and if he is not released within two hours, "I call on all the Senegalese people to stand up as one man and come out massively and this time to put an end to this criminal regime," he said. If the president runs, "I believe it is up to all the Senegalese people to stand up" and "face him," he said. "If we have to fight a fight, it has to be definitive. I call for a national awakening. The coming days and weeks will be crucial" and "difficult," he added.
'Time to leave'
On Monday morning, the first rain of the year fell on Dakar. After the long weekend of the Muslim festival of Tabaski, its inhabitants quietly return to work, avoiding puddles. "My wish is that he says he is not running again. He has already been given twelve years, so it is time for him to leave and give way to another, "says Abdou Diagne, a 38-year-old car washer. "Not sure people will sit idly by if he says otherwise. Anyway we pray for peace in the country," he added, sitting on the hood of a vehicle. Samba Fall, 50, thinks the president "will keep his word." "I expect him to say +I thank the people for the trust they have placed in me during these 12 years, I have contributed to the construction of a harmonious Senegal and I will not stand again, as provided for in the Constitution+". Otherwise, "it will agitate the country."
On Saturday, in front of local elected officials who made a petition to support him, Macky Sall called on his political family to unity and to place "the general interest" and "the interest of the coalition" before any other consideration. "My fight and my greatest pride is really to lead you to victory and to continue our economic policy for the benefit of our populations," he said, stressing that the roadmap to make Senegal an emerging country in 2035 was already "marked" and calling to face "attempts at destabilization".