“My dear compatriots, my long and carefully considered decision is not to be a candidate in the next election of February 25, 2024”: from the speech of the Senegalese President, Macky Sall, during his address to the nation on Monday evening, this is what 23-word snippet that many will certainly have remembered the most. For many months, the Head of State maintained the vagueness about his candidacy for a third term – considered illegal and illegitimate by some – in the presidential election of February 2024, while the violent protests, against a backdrop of trouble legal proceedings against his main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, have multiplied. As in other countries, far from the Senegalese borders, the announcement of the Head of State was well followed and caused a reaction in Burkina where the news of the country of Teranga is usually scrutinized and widely commented on, particularly by the press. .
By this same sentence of 23 words, “Macky Sall had just scored the only and beautiful goal in this match which opposed him to an… opposition which lent him intentions of a third candidacy”, wrote, in a playful tone , the Wakatsera website. The private daily L’Observateur Paalga calls the Senegalese president’s decision “the chef’s surprise”, to use the title of its editorial. The duck argues that “Macky Sall took everyone by surprise because everything seemed to indicate that he would walk on dozens and dozens of corpses which have been strewn for many months on the streets of Senegal to play extra time”. The newspaper argues that, for some time, “by small successive touches, the Senegalese head of state has let his presumed ambitions shine through, encouraged as he is by heated supporters who urge him to run for a third term. For many, there was no longer any doubt that [Macky Sall] was going to cross the Rubicon, not to say the Senegal River,” adds L’Observateur Paalga.
“No, it’s not a surprise given Senegal’s democratic tradition,” said Dr. Daniel Kéré, professor and researcher in political science at Thomas-Sankara University in Ouagadougou and executive director of the Cercle d’études Afriques- Monde, a think tank that proposes “to analyze the complexity of Africa, in its plurality and in its dynamism”. For this researcher, the need to perpetuate this democratic tradition has prevailed so that Macky Sall, this fervent opponent of “excess mandate” since the Abdoulaye Wade era, places his decision in “a perspective of reasonable and wise posture which spare the worst country”. For Rasmane Zinaba, of the Balai Citoyen movement, a civil society organization, it is not a surprise but it is rather the pressure from the street that ended up paying. “When the people mobilize, they always get a victory. […] It is to the honor of the Senegalese people to have forced President Macky Sall to give up. We still need to invest more in vigilance, citizen control and in monitoring this process until the February 2024 elections to avoid being surprised by other facts that could call into question this stage victory.” , recommends this activist of the Broom citizen. For investigative journalist and writer Atiana Serge Oulon: “The decision may have been taken also on the basis of a discreet poll of the Senegalese population who would reject a third mandate by a large majority. »
Many Burkinabè, however, see in the Senegalese president’s decision the expression of “wisdom”. The editorial writers of the daily Le Pays echoed this appreciation by writing: “By containing its bulimia for power to stick only to its two constitutional mandates in accordance with the spirit and the letter of the Fundamental law of his country, Macky Sall writes not only his personal history at the head of Senegal, in letters of nobility, but also, and above all, he prevents his country from sinking into the chaos experienced by other peoples under other heavens, in the face of the obstinacy of rulers who believed themselves to have come out of the thigh of Jupiter”.
Adama Nikiema, a student, agrees with the newspaper’s analysis, but believes that this decision, although “wise”, is on the other hand tainted by these deaths and injuries attributable to the “long silence” of the head of state. This is also why Dr. Daniel Kéré analyzes that the image of President Sall is somewhere tarnished. Because, “by declaring his desire not to run for a third term much earlier, it would undoubtedly have saved many lives and protected public and private property”, he explains. Better, believes the teacher-researcher, “the political and social history of Senegal will now retain from Macky Sall the image of a president whose supporters would have tried to force yet another candidacy, yet impossible according to the provisions of the current Senegalese Constitution”. Rasmané Zinaba of Balai Citoyen also thinks that “this renunciation by Macky Sall comes late after all these troubles, all these deaths and all this violence. It’s sad, he adds, that we get to several deaths so that what should be a normal act becomes an exploit for a man who had no other choice. This is further proof that we still have a long way to go on the continent. It is sad to see that respecting the law, especially the fundamental law which is the Constitution, has become an event under our skies.”
Never mind, the decision of the Senegalese president remains favorably received by most Burkinabè who judge that “Senegalese democracy is saved and the specter of chaos avoided”. “There is nothing like peace in a country and the decision taken by President Macky Sall will contribute a lot to it after what we have seen in recent months”, hopes Mohamed Ali Cissé, a trader. The Paalga Observer is part of this perspective. The newspaper believes that, with President Sall’s statement, “there is no doubt that the Senegalese socio-political mercury which has been rising steadily will fall again. And it is the whole country of Teranga that must breathe a big sigh of relief, as the consequences were going to be disastrous if the decision had been different, “concludes L’Obs. “Leaving on time has always been desirable for a head of state and Macky Sall understood this,” observes Émile Tenkodogo, trader at the central market in Ouagadougou. Professor Abdoulaye Soma, an eminent constitutionalist, simply analyzes that “Macky Sall made a decision that was both good for his curriculum and for the political course of Senegal”.
Beyond the admiration for the one who has removed all doubts about his presidential candidacy in February 2024, we are already wondering in Burkina about the consequences of President Macky Sall’s decision, particularly on the political future and of the opponent Ousmane Sonko, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for corruption of Senegalese youth, he who was first prosecuted for rape and death threat against the employee of a massage parlour, he again who often called on his supporters to take to the streets against “a conspiracy hatched by Macky Sall” to prevent him from being a candidate in 2024.
“The situation of the opponent Ousmane Sonko is not yet resolved, being sentenced to prison, he is therefore liable to arrest at any time. A priori, the powers are separated and the executive power cannot interfere to annul Mr. Sonko’s conviction. Which would risk excluding Mr. Sonko from the next presidential election ”, foresees Dr. Daniel Kéré. “Sonko will perhaps articulate his speech now on governance and his legal fate,” predicts journalist Atiana Serge Oulon. For the daily Le Pays, the Senegalese president’s decision “deprives the supporters of Ousmane Sonko of a sizeable argument to continue to rush into the stretchers against the head of state. And if things left there, continues the newspaper, the biggest loser would be the opponent Sonko who could not take advantage of his own turpitudes.
For constitutionalist Abdoulaye Soma, Ousmane Sonko can try to maneuver to be a candidate by, for example, appealing the court’s decision. No need to maneuver, seems to say the trader Mohamed Ali Cissé. This merchant understands that the illustrious opponent was only a victim of the temptation of Sall’s third term. “Since the president will not be a candidate, Ousmane Sonko must simply be released to take part in the election”, he wishes.
In a completely different register, Le pays believes that “the main challenge for Macky Sall remains the organization of his succession, through the organization of peaceful and transparent elections”. And to continue: “You could say that the games are open. Especially since until his speech on July 3, we did not know the Senegalese head of state, an appointed dolphin. However, concludes the duck, there is no doubt that the withdrawal of Macky Sall from the race for his own succession, will not fail to sharpen the ambitions within the Benno Bokk Yakkar coalition in power in Dakar.
