With 8 months to go to the 2024 presidential election, the « Ks » of Khalifa Sall and Karim seem to have been settled. What about Macky Sall? Will he stand for a 3rd consecutive term? While this has always been his intention, actions show that Macky Sall is receptive, even sensitive, to this « challenge ». In Paris, he dropped a hint.
Will Macky Sall be a candidate in the 2024 presidential election? It’s a question that everyone has answered, except the main person concerned. It seems that the end of the suspense is near. For the time being, the opposition has already answered in the negative, while the majority, although no longer concealing its choice of seeing Macky Sall run for a « second five-year term », is referring the ball back to the Constitutional Council, which will be called upon to settle the debate on the 3rd candidacy. Pending a referral to the 7 Wise Men, Macky Sall has just dropped a hint. In Paris at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron, the leader of Benno bokk yaakaar did not deny himself the pleasure of taking a dip after his visit to Lisbon.
Political Situation: Macky Holds the Ropes
Speaking to his supporters, Macky Sall said: « I will be addressing the country shortly. We will have a lot of work to do after this declaration, to move towards the march of progress, towards victory in 2024. » That’s it!
It should be remembered that the political tensions have exacerbated by the issue of the 3rd candidacy. This divides the political class. The opposition, after 2019, is clinging to the 2nd paragraph of article 27 of the Constitution, which prohibits more than 2 consecutive mandates. This is contested by the majority, who like to say that the debate has been displaced. For Benno, the 5-year term begins in 2019. As a result, Macky Sall can indeed stand for election. Behind this technical debate, which should concern legal theorists, lies a political war fuelled by a rarely seen radicalism. The events of March 2021 and June 2023 give rise to fears of the worst in the event of a declaration. Will Macky Sall, who is awaiting the conclusions of the national dialogue before addressing the nation as promised, declare his candidacy 8 months before the presidential election? What could happen afterwards?
The Franco-Senegalese Lawyer, Robert Bourgi, Speaks of an “International Plot Against Macky”
Macky Sall had ruled out any participation in the 2024 presidential election. He was clear in 2018 when he was courting the votes of the Senegalese. « If I am re-elected, it will be my last term. I have locked up the Constitution », the outgoing President vowed at the time. His tune changed a few years later. « If I say I won’t be a candidate, all my ministers and collaborators will stop working. Nothing will work in this country any more. If I say I will be a candidate, there will be more marches », Macky Sall changed his tune on 31 December 2019, when questioned by Babacar Fall. Macky Sall then theorised the « neither yes nor no » approach. 3 years later, the political landscape seems to be changing. The opposition came close to imposing a cohabitation by taking control of 80 MPs and has strengthened its hold in the major cities.
Macky Sall seems to want to convince himself that if he stands in the next election, he will be in a position to stand again, because his aura will have remained intact. Hence the determination of his supporters to impose his candidacy. He himself, who is convinced of this, declared yesterday: « Thanks to our work, we will remain in power, with the will of the People! »
