Mayor of Senegalese town of Thiès unveils plans to run for 2024 presidential elections

Babacar Diop, Mayor of the Senegalese town of Thiès announced Sunday he will be a candidate for 2024 presidential elections for which incumbent Macky Sall is currently barred from.
Diop made the announcement at the end of the congress of his Forces démocratiques du Sénégal [Democratic Forces of Senegal] also known as Guelwaars.
The Philosophy lecturer at Cheikh Anta Diop University in capital Dakar, said his candidacy is for the “forgotten people”, especially the poor, the workers, the youth, the women, etc.
“I am ready for a new Senegal,” he added. “We want to find a real democracy, real, that allows the people to have the power. They must have the capacity to decide their own destiny.” Diop is the second political figure to have unveiled plans to seek the country’s top job during the 2024 elections.
Aminata Touré, another high profile political figure, also announced plans to run for the elections in October. Toure, a former ally of President Sall, fell out of the incumbent leader last year following last year legislatives.
She won her seat in the parliament but submitted her resignation to the House in October in reaction to Sall’s appointment of Amadou Mame Diop at her expense. She also announced her plans to run for 2024 presidential elections.
Sall himself is barred from seeking another third term in office by the constitution, and has been accused by the opposition for harboring plans to amend the constitution in view of running for the 2024 presidential polls.