By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Senegal, opposition parties and hundreds of supporters on Friday held a rally to protest against the unconstitutional bid of the country’s President, Macky Sall, to stand for election next year.
Sall, 61, came to power in 2012, and won reelection in 2019.
Senegal’s new constitution, adopted in 2016, limits presidential terms to two five-year mandates.
Though the President has not confirmed or denied plans to run in 2024, he told French newspaper L’Express recently that he could technically run, saying that the new constitution reset the clock on his number of mandates, an argument that has been used by other presidents in the region to run and secure third terms.
“Macky Sall is done. He must not seek a third term. We’ll not accept it — not today, not tomorrow,” said Ibrahima Lo, a trader who joined the protest at a square in the country’s capital.
The opposition has also accused Sall’s government of using the judicial to target potential challengers, including leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, 48, who came third in the 2019 presidential election.
The government has denied the opposition’s accusations.
Sonko is on trial in two separate cases which could disqualify him from the 2024 presidential race.
A court of appeal handed him a heavier suspended sentence on May 8, in a libel case against Senegal’s tourism minister.
A separate trial is scheduled to start next week, in which he is charged with raping a beauty salon employee in 2021 and making death threats against her. Sonko has denied both allegations.
