Abuja — Liberia head of delegation to the ECOWAS parliament Sen. Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. has said people should be circumspect in their speculations that H. E. President Macky Sall of Senegal might seek a third term with his party having Majority in the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Melvin Snowe Edwin Jr. who is the Chairman of the sub-regional Community Parliament's Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), argued that President Macky Sall has not made any official pronouncement on a third term bid, as such it is important for people to apply wisdom in making those pronouncements and give the Senegalese President the benefit of the doubt.
In an interview, he pointed out that any attempt for a third term bid is a recipe for chaos and military takeover and was cautious to say should the Senegalese President attempt to change the constitution from all indications on the political front was going to be an uphill battle; "I don't think it will be a good idea", he affirmed.
Sen. Snowe who was recently in Senegal as ECOWAS election observer for the just ended parliamentarian elections further noted that the outcome of the Legislative Assembly elections, said, the opposition did extremely well, followed by former President Abdoulaye Wade's party and there are three smaller parties that got one seat each.
And the two big parties in opposition, the possibility of them going through the ruling establishment is next to impossibility. The three smaller parties which should be three votes, they are in talks with both the opposition and the ruling government; they will be the king makers even at that in the worst case.
"If the president is to get the three parties, the possibility of changing the constitution or attempting to change it in Senegal will not be a good idea. So, all we can do from our end is to encourage the president to do what is right to respect the rule of law and the constitution and respect two terms and what he did in the initial stage where he had seven years for his first term and reduce it by changing the constitution to five years that speaks volumes for him".
