Despite the success of some development projects, politics is stagnant and the economy still refuses to spring to life
On being elected in 2012, President Macky Sall promised to reduce the presidential term from seven to five years. His predecessor, Abdoulaye Wade, had said he would make that change but ended by trying and failing for an unconstitutional third term. First Sall postponed a decision, then called for a referendum and eventually unilaterally shortened the term to five years on 4 January. Unfortunately for him, many Senegalese see this not as a decisive blow for democracy but as evidence of indecisiveness, for which he has been amply criticised before. The coming year, therefore, will be about position-taking and alliance-building ahead of the 2017 elections and about Sall's trying to show he's not weak.
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