For several months, Idrissa Seck had kept his political ambitions vague, speaking in sibylline phrases while reaffirming his anchoring in the presidential camp. The 63-year-old politician, president of the Rewmi party (“the country” in Wolof), finally cleared up the doubt during a press conference held on Friday April 14 in his stronghold of Thiès. “Can you imagine an election here in Senegal without Idrissa Seck alive and well? he asked, before confirming: “Yes, I will be a presidential candidate in 2024.”
Coming second in the last election of 2019, the former Prime Minister is running for the supreme office for the fourth time (2007, 2012, 2019). Remained discreet, almost erased from the political scene since joining the presidential camp by accepting the presidency of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) in 2020, he has multiplied ambiguous messages in recent months.
While President Macky Sall is still slow to show his intentions on a possible candidacy, Idrissa Seck has made two allusions to the question of the third term. The first in February, during a relocated presidential council in Thiès, where he addressed the president in these terms: “Continue to soothe your heart and strengthen your mind so that the future choices you will have to make can earning you a completion of your already beautiful and exceptional course. “. What some have interpreted as an invitation to give up the possibility of a third term. The second in early March in the United States, in front of students, where he reaffirmed that his project for Rewmi was to make Senegal a “major democracy where power is transmitted at regular intervals not exceeding ten years”, recalling in passing that he opposed Abdoulaye Wade’s third term in 2012.
“Discordant Voices”
Outings that immediately sparked speculation in the Senegalese press about the relationship between the two men, assuming the end of their companionship. “They are in phase,” swept Ousseynou Masserigne Gueye, adviser to Idrissa Seck.
On April 4, however, “Idy”, as the Senegalese call him, shifted into a new gear: “Macky brought you the Africa Cup. Will you come with me to get the World Cup in four years? “, he asked on his Facebook account. A few minutes later, the message, interpreted as a declaration of candidacy, was deleted.
“Macky Sall’s record is excellent from the material point of view, but could be improved for the immaterial aspect such as governance, justice… I can do better,” said Idrissa Seck confidently on Friday. The one that Pape Mahawa Diouf, coordinator of the communication unit of Benno Bokk Yaakar (BBY), the presidential coalition, had not hesitated to present as “a strong and unwavering ally of President Macky Sall”, reaffirmed his opposition to a third term of the Head of State, contrary to BBY’s instructions to remain silent. The former prime minister also wanted Ousmane Sonko, the main political opponent prosecuted in several court cases, to be a candidate, “regardless of the outcome of the appeal trial and even in cassation”.
“Idrissa Seck is a man of principle and has enough political courage to speak his mind. He has already experienced the situation in 2012 with Abdoulaye Wade, ”assures his adviser. Does his candidacy signal the end of the presidential alliance? “So far he remains in the coalition as an ally, the breakup has not been formalized. But there are already dissenting voices: it is certain that the tenors of the presidential party who want Macky Sall to be their candidate for 2024 did not appreciate this exit, ”assures Ousseynou Masserigne Gueye.
By declaring himself, the hypothesis that Idrissa Seck becomes the candidate of the presidential coalition moves away. An option deemed unrealistic anyway by Maurice Soudieck Dione, associate professor of political science at Gaston-Berger University in Saint-Louis: “All of Macky Sall’s actions since 2019 are in line with a third candidacy. I don’t see the president giving the BBY device to Idrissa Seck and the coalition supporting him. »
“Surprise Turnaround”
Mayor of Thiès for twelve years (2002-2014), Idrissa Seck led the government from 2002 to 2004 under the presidency of Abdoulaye Wade. A leading political actor, he saw his “credibility damaged”, according to Mr. Dione, by joining Macky Sall. “Many did not understand this surprise turnaround. His sympathy capital was tainted and he was sanctioned for this by losing his base in Thiès during the last elections, ”develops the academic. Idrissa Seck plans to meet the populations to “remove this misunderstanding”, according to his special adviser to remobilize a weakened electorate and defeats in the local and then legislative elections of 2022.
An alliance with other members of the opposition is not excluded according to his entourage. “He can take advantage of the tense context and the current confrontation between power and opposition to position himself as a candidate from the center, which brings people together. The extremists, with perhaps a third term for Macky Sall on the one hand, and the radical position of Ousmane Sonko on the other, will not unite, ”explains political scientist Maurice Soudieck Dione.
Idrissa Seck’s future as ESEC president remains up in the air, as does that of Rewmi-affiliated ministers such as Yankhoba Diatta (Sport) and Aly Saleh Diop (Livestock). A government reshuffle could thus occur in the coming weeks.