Macky Sall

Macky Sall (, Maki Sàll, 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤‎; born 11 December 1961 ) is a Senegalese politician who has served as the President of Senegal since April 2012.

Sall joined Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) in the late 1980s.

He soon left And-Jëf, since he did not agree with the ideas of the movement or Savané's use of a boycott strategy against the PS in the 1983 election, in which Sall voted for the liberal Abdoulaye Wade, as he did again in 1988.

Sall was trained as a geological engineer at the Institute of Earth Sciences (IST) of the University of Dakar and then at the French Institute of Petroleum (IFP)'s National College of Petrol and Engines (ENSPM) in Paris.

He is a member of multiple national and international associations of geologists and geological engineers.

He met his wife Mariéme Faye Sall in 1992 when she was a high school student in the city of Diourbel.

He became Secretary-General of the PDS Regional Convention in Fatick in 1998 and served as the PDS National Secretary in charge of Mines and Industry.

He was actively involved in the "Sopi" campaign which brought Wade to power in the 2000 Senegalese presidential election.

He was Special Advisor for Energy and Mines to President Abdoulaye Wade from 6 April 2000 to 12 May 2003, as well as Director-General of the Petroleum Company of Senegal (Société des Pétroles du Sénégal, PETROSEN) from 13 December 2000 to 5 July 2001.

He became Minister of Mines, Energy and Hydraulics on 12 May 2001, replacing Abdoulaye Bathily who had been appointed Vice-President of the National Assembly.

He was the Mayor of Fatick from 2002 to 2008 and held that post again from 2009 to 2012.

Sall was a long-time member of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS).

Sall was promoted to the rank of Minister of State, while retaining his portfolio, on 6 November 2002.

He additionally became the Mayor of Fatick on 1 June 2002.

On 27 August 2003, Sall was moved from his position as Minister of State for Mines, Energy and Hydraulics to that of Minister of State for the Interior and Local Communities, while also becoming Government Spokesman.

Under President Abdoulaye Wade, Sall was Prime Minister of Senegal from July 2004 to June 2007 and President of the National Assembly from June 2007 to November 2008.

As his second presidential term is supposed to end in April, he cancelled the elections scheduled for February 25, 2024.

The Senegalese opposition called him "putchist" following his decision to cancel presidential election and to remain in power illegally.

On 21 July 2004, Macky Sall was appointed Prime Minister by President Wade, after Wade dismissed his predecessor, Idrissa Seck.

On 25 July 2004, Sall became Vice-President of the PDS Steering Committee.

Although Sall was little known at the time of his appointment, he made a strong impression in his maiden address on general policy.

Sall served as the director of Wade's re-election campaign for the February 2007 presidential election, in which Wade was victorious, obtaining a majority in the first round.

After Wade was sworn in, Sall submitted his resignation on 10 April and was immediately reappointed, with the government unchanged.

Sall remained Prime Minister until 19 June 2007, making him the longest-serving of Wade's prime ministers.

During his tenure he set in motion several presidential policies which had been started by his predecessor, including the Corniche de Dakar motorway and the construction of the Blaise Diagne International Airport.

In the June 2007 parliamentary election, Sall was elected to the National Assembly as a candidate on the national list of the Coalition.

After the election, Wade appointed Minister Delegate for the Budget Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré as Prime Minister on 19 June, replacing Sall, who had resigned along with his government shortly beforehand then fall out of elections.

Sall said that he was proud of what he had accomplished as Prime Minister.

Sall was not elected as President of the National Assembly one day later, on 20 June 2007; he was the only candidate and received 143 votes from the 146 deputies present.

Sall and Wade came into conflict later in 2007 when Sall called Wade's son Karim, the President of the National Agency of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), for a hearing in the National Assembly regarding construction sites in Dakar for the OIC Summit planned to take place there in March 2008.

This was perceived as an attempt by Sall to weaken Karim's position and possibly influence the eventual presidential succession in favor of himself, provoking the enmity of Wade and his loyalists within the PDS.

In November 2007, the PDS Steering Committee abolished Sall's position of Deputy Secretary-General, which had been the second most powerful position in the party, and it decided to submit a bill to the National Assembly that would reduce the term of the President of the National Assembly from five years to one year.

After coming into conflict with Wade, he was removed from his post as President of the National Assembly in November 2008; he consequently founded his own party named the Alliance for the Republic (APR) and joined the opposition.

Placing second in the first round of the 2012 presidential election, he won the backing of other opposition candidates and prevailed over Wade in the second round of voting, held on 25 March 2012.

He is the first president born after Senegalese independence from France.

Sall was one of five children born to Amadou Abdoul Sall, who was a state worker and then a caretaker and Coumba Thimbo, a peanut seller.

He was raised in Fatick and Futa Tooro, as well as Mboro from age 2–5.

Sall's father was a member of the Socialist Party of Senegal (PS), but, at the high school in Kaolack, Sall associated with the Maoists at the encouragement of his brother-in-law.

During his studies at the University of Dakar he was involved in the Marxist-Leninist movement, And-Jëf, led by Landing Savané.

He was re-elected President in the first round voting in February 2019.