2023-07-04 05:52:06
Senegalese President Macky Sall, during a meeting of African leaders and senior officials, in Saint Petersburg (Russia), June 17, 2023. EVGENY BIYATOV / PHOTO HOST AGENCY RIA NOVOSTI VIA AP
When the first rains of the year fell on Dakar, Monday July 4 at dawn, everyone saw a sign. The supporters of the Senegalese head of state Macky Sally read there the renewed ambitions of their leader, when his opponents fantasized about his renunciation. If even the sky was involved in this day charged with tension…
A few hours later, when dusk came, the whole country gathered in front of the television screens. Usually, only Teranga Lions matches, the national football team, or wrestling matches mesmerize so many viewers. But this time, at 8 p.m., it was the president who appeared on the Senegalese National Radio and Television (RTS). In the bars of the capital, the debates gave way to silence. The streets, full of traffic jams at that time, suddenly emptied. In anticipation of possible looting and new violence, many shops have lowered their curtains.
“My dear compatriots, my long and carefully considered decision is not to be a candidate in the next election of February 25, 2024”, said Macky Sall after about twenty minutes of speech. It has been more than a year that the Senegalese president has been hanging the suspense over a possible third candidacy, plunging the country into uncertainty and strong tensions. If his camp argued the constitutional revision of 2016 to emphasize that “the counters were reset to zero” and that their leader could stand again in the presidential election of February 2024, his opponents recalled that the Constitution limited “to two” the number of mandates, which made this third candidacy illegal.
Read also: In Senegal, President Macky Sall or the art of suspense around the third term
“I have a clear awareness and memory of what I have said, written and repeated, here and elsewhere, that is to say that the 2019 term was my second and last term. I have a code of honor and a sense of historical responsibility that commands me to preserve my dignity and my word”he said, adding: “We have speculated so much, commented on my candidacy for this election (…) My priorities focused mainly on the management of a country, of a coherent government team committed to action for emergence, especially in a difficult and uncertain socio-economic context. »
Long suspense
Until recently, Macky Sall refused to reveal his choice. In March, in an interview with the French weekly L’Expresshe had considered his candidacy plausible, because “on the legal level, the debate has been settled for a long time”. In his coalition, everyone was mobilizing to call for an extension of the leader’s term. Five hundred and twelve elected representatives of the majority, mayors and presidents of departmental councils, out of the 601 in the country, recently asked him to represent himself. In off, political advisers and observers confided how the entourage of the Head of State did not intend to give up the future economic benefits of the upcoming exploitation of Senegalese gas and oil.
You have 61.31% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#Senegal #Macky #Sall #term #decision #facing #history