Thousands of people on Friday demonstrated in Dakar against President Macky Sall’s attempt to seek a third term, unauthorized by the Constitution, ahead of the presidential election scheduled for February 2024, in which he has not yet declared whether or not he will be a candidate.
“We are here to say no to the third candidacy of the current President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, and at the same time we are here to validate that (of the leader of the opposition) Ousmane Sonko”, has told EFE Cheick Mbaye (33), a young Senegalese, at the start of the demonstration in Place de la Nation, in the capital.
“Even if the gendarmes and the police are stepping on corpses, Sonko will be a candidate for the Republic of Senegal because, for the moment, he is the only hope, the only solution for the Senegalese,” added Mr. Mbaye.
F24 called the protest to denounce a possible third candidacy of Mr. Sall, demand the release of political detainees, and create optimal conditions for the holding of presidential elections next year.
Although Mr. Sall (in power since 2012) has not yet confirmed whether he will be a candidate in these elections, Aliou Sané, coordinator of Senegal’s main citizens’ movement, Y’en a Marre, and member of the F24, said “We can’t wait for him to show up to fight us. We have to tell him that he has no right to do it and that he must not do it.”