President of Senegal names a coalition candidate for elections

The president of Senegal names a coalition candidate for elections

Prime Minister Amadou Ba has been selected by President Macky Sall of Senegal as a contender for the forthcoming presidential election in February 2024. On Saturday, he officially obtained the go-ahead for the nomination during a meeting of the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition that was televised live on the national network.

The chief executive said that he would not run for a third term in a July speech to the nation. Uncertainty around his bid for a third term had sparked violent opposition protests in Senegal.

Sall is the first president of Senegal to voluntarily chose to restrict his administration to two terms. The president of Senegal is limited to two terms in office by the constitution. Due to a constitutional change, he was elected in 2012 for a seven-year term and again in 2019 for a shorter five-year term.

According to media reports, Agriculture Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, who was one among the candidates for the inauguration, tendered his resignation from the cabinet after Ba was named the coalition’s standard bearer on Saturday.

Political scientist Ogo Seck, a professor at Gastenberger University, claimed on Tuesday that Sall’s choice to choose his prime minister “didn’t receive unanimous support.”

The president of Senegal rules out a run for a third term.
Seck claimed that the president’s selection of Ba was affected by the fact that the ruling coalition had 12 other candidates, some of whom were ineligible to run for office due to legal restrictions. The expert described the violent incidents in June in Senegal that resulted in injuries and fatalities and left “a mark on the political life of the country over the past few months.”

Additionally, he stated that “certain problems may arise” if a candidate does not run in the elections, adding that “there is a risk of tensions.”