DAKAR (Reuters) – Senegalese President Macky Sall will address the nation on Monday evening, his office said, amid speculation that is he planning to run for a third term in office that the opposition has said would be unconstitutional.
Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko called for his supporters to be ready to take to the streets if the president announced any such plan.
Accusations and uncertainty over the president’s intentions have fuelled unrest and sometimes violent protests over the past year in the usually stable West African nation.
Sall – who came to power in 2012 and won re-election in 2019 – has not spelled out his plans up to now, but has suggested that a new constitution in 2016 makes him legally eligible to run again.
“Stand ready and be strong,” Sonko said in a speech to his supporters late on Sunday. “If he (Sall) says he will seek a third term, we should rise up against that and all refuse.”
Sonko was sentenced to two years in jail last month on charges stemming from an alleged rape – accusations that he denies and says were politically motivated.
Sonko has not been arrested, but any detention could rule him out of elections scheduled for February. In his speech, he also called for protests if he was jailed.
At least 16 people died in mass protests after his conviction last month, in some of the deadliest unrest in Senegal’s recent history.
Sall, 61, will speak on television at 2000 GMT, the presidency said.
(Reporting by Ngouda Dione and Diadie Ba; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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