The 10-year anniversary of the M23 marking the fight against the presidential ticket introduced by President Abdoulaye Wade in 2011, was celebrated in the division. If the militants of the Alliance Pour la République (APR) and the members of the original M23 met in the Place de la Nation, the Movement for the Defense of Democracy (M2D) and all the other citizen movements preferred to meet at the field of the Grand Yoff low-income housing, located in the Senegalese capital. Two disjointed events with different objectives. The M23 wanted to remember the fight against the blocking quarter of Me Abdoulaye Wade which consisted in passing a candidate in the first round with 25% of the vote. For the M2D, it is the status quo because the same claims remain 10 years later.
Monster events ! Dakar, the Senegalese capital, vibrated this Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Ten years after the fight against the presidential ticket and the third candidacy of Me Abdoulaye Wade, the M23 commemorated the event at the Place de la Nation with the ruling party. A demonstration strongly dominated by the presence of executives in power and activists of Apr. Thérèse Faye, director of Fongip and activist of Apr, present in Place de la Nation, judged that the achievements of M23 still remain because the President of the Republic, Macky Sall, is in a dynamic of preservation of the achievements resulting from this fight that had taken the life of student Mamadou Diop. “The gathering of the Senegalese people today [Wednesday, June 23] in Obelisk Square is proof that the policy of the President of the Republic Macky Sall has convinced. The democratic gains from the M23 fight remain unchanged,” said the former director of the Case des Tout-Petits.
The M2D, the citizens’ movements, the opposition political leaders as well as the activists were at the Grand Yoff HLM. If the gathering of the original M23 lasted less than 2 hours (4 pm to 6 pm), the M2D, which broke the record of the mobilization, took the necessary time (4 pm to 7 pm) for a single slogan: “No to the third mandate of the President of the Republic Macky Sall”. The MD2, supported by an impressive crowd, composed mostly of young people, is determined to stop the road to the President of the Republic Macky Sall whose “actions aim to lull the people in order to stand for a third time in the presidential election of 2024”, according to Déthié Fall, Secretary General of the Republican Party for Progress.
In the same vein, M2D member Ndèye Fatou Ndiaye Blondin Diop is convinced that Macky Sall is keen to “confiscate the electoral process, subjugate the National Assembly, devalue the republican forces and legalize state violence to the point of faltering one of the most precious assets that are peace and social harmony”.
Under the shouts and applause of the audience, Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the Pastef-The Patriotes stepped up to the plate to further warn the President of the Republic Macky Sall against a possible constitutional force in order to illegally stand in the next presidential election. He called on young people to remain determined in order to lead the fight to the end because the opponent opposite, in this case Head of State Macky Sall, does not intend to drop the case if he is not pushed to the end. “Get ready for battle!Know that, in the face of a president who recruits nerds, we must not let ourselves be fooled. It is from now on that it is necessary to fight and to let him know that you, as young people, you are well awakened to block the road to him in the face of his exaggerated actions”, has sheared the leader of Pastef under the appreciation of other political leaders or members of civil society including Guy Marius Sagna, Bougane Gueye Dany, Barthélemy Diaz, Dr Abdourahmane Diouf, Fatoumata Ndiaye of the Fouta Tampi movement or Sheikh Tidiane Dièye, M2D coordinator.
Recall that the Movement of June 23, commonly called M23, was born in 2011, the day the Senegalese National Assembly considered a constitutional reform to ensure victory in the first round of the presidential election a candidate with 25% of the valid votes cast. Then, a coalition of political parties and civil society organizations mobilized against this anti-democratic project but also against the candidacy of President Abdoulaye Wade for a third term in 2012. The fight, fiercely fought, led to the withdrawal of this law on the same day.
