He is the first to do so within the presidential movement, while the Head of State Macky Sall has still not spoken on the issue
The President of the Senegalese Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), Idrissa Seck, announced on Friday his candidacy for the presidential election of February 25, 2024.
An ally of President Macky Sall during the victory in 2012 against then President Abdoulaye Wade, Seck left the majority a year later before joining it again in 2020.
He is the very first of the great presidential majority to declare himself a candidate for the supreme magistracy, while President Macky Sall has still not pronounced on the question.
“It is unimaginable that a presidential election is being held at this time without Idrissa Seck; I am a candidate”, indicated the president of the EESC in response to a question on the subject during a press briefing in Thiès (50 km from Dakar).
Asked about a probable candidacy of President Macky Sall mentioned by members of the vast presidential majority, Idrissa Seck did not expand in depth on the subject, saying he was waiting for the official position of the person concerned.
“Macky Sall’s silence does not bother me. I am one of those who asked him not to talk about it, ”he explained.
Seck said during the press briefing that he also met the opponent Ousmane Sonko on March 27 in the early morning.
“It was in view of the defamation trial of March 30. In any case, the opposition canceled its March 30 and April 3 marches, so the mediation paid off,” he said. He also expressed the wish to see Sonko participate in the presidential election.
“I wish and I support that Ousmane Sonko can be a candidate for the presidential election of 2024 whatever the outcome of the appeal trial and even in cassation,” noted Seck who came 2nd in the 2019 presidential election.
Several opposition leaders have announced their candidacy for the presidential election which is held in 10 months and for which the opposition and civil society are urging the outgoing president to refrain from any desire to run for a 3rd term which they consider illegitimate.
