President Macky Sall of Senegal mentioned on Monday that he wouldn’t search a 3rd time period in workplace, placing an finish to months of tensions over a hypothetical candidacy that many say would have violated the West African nation’s Constitution.

“My dear fellow citizens, my decision after long consideration is to not be a candidate in the election on Feb. 25, 2024,” Mr. Sall mentioned in a televised handle. “My 2019 term was my second and last term.”

Mr. Sall’s speech got here a month after not less than 16 individuals died in government protests that have been fueled, partly, by his refusal to say whether or not he would run for a 3rd time period subsequent yr.

Thousands of demonstrators, most of them younger, had taken to the streets to protest in opposition to what they noticed as an authoritarian drift from Mr. Sall’s authorities, and in opposition to the conviction of his fundamental political opponent, Ousmane Sonko, on fees that his supporters mentioned had been an try and sideline him.

The violence, harking back to deadly protests in 2021, raised considerations among the many Senegalese public and worldwide observers that Senegal was now not the beacon of political pluralism and stability it had lengthy been thought to be in a area recognized for its frequent coups and growing older leaders clinging to energy.

That made Mr. Sall’s announcement all of the extra welcome to many.

“A time bomb was just deactivated,” Alioune Tine, a famend Senegalese human rights determine, mentioned about Mr. Sall’s renouncement. “It’s a huge relief for Senegal and the African continent.”

Mr. Sall’s choice to not run was uncommon for West and Central Africa, the place some leaders have in recent times curbed their international locations’ legal guidelines to remain in energy.

In 2021, President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast was elected for a third term regardless of a constitutional rule limiting presidents to 2. In the Central African Republic, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra can be searching for a 3rd time period via a constitutional referendum scheduled this month.

Senegal, which has by no means skilled a coup since gaining independence from France in 1960, considers itself as a mannequin of democracy in Africa. Many feared that Mr. Sall would possibly change that.

Mr. Sall, 61, was first elected in 2012 for a seven-year time period and once more in 2019 for 5 years after he modified the Constitution, which limits presidents to 2 phrases. He argued that the constitutional change had reset the clock to zero, however authorized consultants in Senegal and overseas dismissed the competition as fallacious.

Since 2012, Mr. Sall has presided over the event of certainly one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, specializing in main infrastructure tasks like a brand new worldwide airport, a train linking the capital, Dakar, to its suburbs and a brand new metropolis geared toward assuaging congestion in Dakar.

He has additionally overseen the development of a gas field off Senegal’s northern coast that’s anticipated to begin manufacturing subsequent yr. It may make the nation of 17 million individuals a serious producer of pure fuel in Africa.

Yet, Senegal’s health care system stays underdeveloped, whereas youth unemployment is widespread. And below Mr. Sall’s management, lots of of political opponents have been jailed and journalists arrested.

Senegal now faces an open election in lower than eight months.

The future for Mr. Sonko, Mr. Sall’s fundamental opponent, stays unsure. Last month, he was sentenced to 2 years in jail for “corrupting youth” after a therapeutic massage parlor worker accused him of rape in 2021. Mr. Sonko was acquitted of rape and different fees, all which he denied.

Mr. Sall has but to call a political successor. On Tuesday night, he mentioned, “Senegal exceeds my person, and is full of leaders capable of taking the country to the next level.”