One presidential candidate, Thierno Sall, accused the president of treason.
“Macky Sall is aware of that his candidate, Amadou Ba, can’t win the presidential election,” he mentioned in a press release. “He’s afraid of the results of his actions throughout all his years on the head of our nation.”
Senegal has, up to now, been spared the navy coups which have lately hit different former French colonies that neighbor it within the arid Sahel area simply south of the Sahara. However the president’s critics on Saturday accused him of finishing up a constitutional coup.
Just like the nations now led by juntas, Senegal has skilled a wave of youth discontent, with widespread demonstrations in opposition to a authorities that many see as repressive, out of contact, in cahoots with its former colonizer, France, and unable to create adequate alternatives for younger individuals, who dominate the nation demographically.
Many younger Senegalese mentioned there was an answer to those issues: Ousmane Sonko.
Mr. Sonko, a comparatively younger politician — he’s 49, Macky Sall is 62 — has drawn assist by criticizing France, denouncing Senegalese elites and promising to stimulate the economic system and create jobs.