Senegal’s president under pressure not to seek third term

October 29, 2022 Elwin Mandowa

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Senegalese president Macky Sall is coming under intense pressure not to seek a third term in office.

Mr. Sall was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2019 for a second term but he hasn’t yet made it public and emphatic whether he will seek another term or exit the presidency.

The Constitution stipulates that a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms and should he run again in 2024 that would violate that stipulation.

But several individuals in the president’s camp are pushing the idea of a third term, citing the 2016 constitutional revision which they say resets the clock for Sall.

With Macky Sall keeping his intentions vague, the opposition in the West African nation is promising a fierce resistance if he takes the step.

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This week several Senegalese organisations urged President Macky Sall to dispel any doubts and openly declare that he would not run for his own succession in 2024.

According to them any attempt to run again could spread “chaos” in Senegal.

In a statement human rights, and democracy organisations stressed the consequences of forcing for a third term which have been “particularly tragic”.

They referred to precedents in Guinean, saying Senegal must “avoid a scenario of chaos”.

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“To avoid such a catastrophe, the consequences of which could be even more dramatic than those of 2012, we invite you, Mr President, to make an open declaration to remove any ambiguity,” they write.

“The limitation of mandates to two is unequivocal and definitively anchored in the fundamental law,” they noted.

In 2012, Abdoulaye Wade’s candidacy for a third term of office provoked violence that left several people dead. The NGOs point out that Mr Sall had fought against the third mandate, a struggle in which he was the “main beneficiary”.

We “solemnly invite you not to present your candidacy for the presidential election of 2024, out of respect for the word given and out of respect for the clear and unequivocal interpretation that you have always given to our Constitution,” they say.