The President of Senegal, Macky Sall has come out to declare that he will not run for a third term in next year’s election, which will bring years of uncertainty over his political future that helped fuel deadly opposition protests last month to an end.
Sall asserted on Monday that Senegal’s constitution would have permitted his candidacy despite having already been chosen for a second term in 2019 in a speech streamed live on his official Facebook page.
‘There has been much speculation and commentary on my eventual candidature on this election,’ Sall said in his speech. ‘The 2019 term was my second and last term.’
‘My decision, carefully considered… is not to run as a candidate in the upcoming election on February 25, 2024… even though the constitution grants me the right,’ he said.
Sall’s announcement will likely quell fears of a democratic backslide in Senegal.
Rumours that the 61-year-old leader would try to extend his stay in power have led to bouts of unrest since 2021 in which dozens have been killed, shaking Senegal’s reputation for calm in a restive region.
Sall was first elected in 2012 for a seven-year term after prevailing against then-President Abdoulaye Wade, whose decision to seek a controversial third term prompted violent street demonstrations.
Wade ultimately conceded defeat after a run-off between him and Sall, his former protege.
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Sall was elected again in 2019 for a five-year term, following a constitutional revision that set a two-term presidential limit. The president’s supporters have called for him to run again, arguing that his first term under the prior constitution should not count.
Sall has not designated a political successor and in recent months, has been coy about another term.
Some worried he would follow other regional leaders, including in Ivory Coast and Togo, who used changes to the constitution as an excuse to reset their mandate and extend their hold on power.
On the eve of Sall’s nationwide address, his fiercest critic, Ousmane Sonko, urged the public to ‘come out en masse and oppose him.
Sonko, who is popular with Senegal’s disaffected youth, has painted Sall as a corrupt, would-be dictator. ‘It’s incumbent on all the Senegalese people to stand up, to face him,’ Sonko said on Sunday.
The opposition leader was sentenced on June 1 to two years in jail for ‘corrupting’ a young beauty-salon worker, sparking protests that led to 16 deaths according to the government, 24 according to Amnesty International, and 30 according to Sonko’s party.
The conviction means he is not eligible 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.