Background and career
Macky Sall (French pronunciation: [maki sal], Wolof: Maki Sàll, Pulaar: 𞤃𞤢𞤳𞤭 𞤅𞤢𞤤, romanized: Maki Sal; born 11 December 1961) is a Senegalese politician who served as the fourth president of Senegal from 2012 to 2024. He was the eighth prime minister from 2004 to 2007, under President Abdoulaye Wade and was president of the National Assembly from 2007 to 2008. Sall served as the Mayor of Fatick from 2002 to 2008 and held that post again from 2009 to 2012. He was a long-time member of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS). 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. Under Sall's leadership, significant infrastructure projects, including a new airport and town near Dakar, highways, express trains, a national stadium, and a road link to Mali, were completed. Throughout his tenure, there was a steady growth in the country's economy, with the annual GDP increasing from $17 billion to $27 billion. Internationally, he earned praise for his diplomatic efforts, advocating for African debt cancellation, bolstering anti-terrorism measures, and condemning military coups. He contributed to resolving conflicts in the country's Casamance region and played a crucial role in ousting dictator Yahya Jammeh in neighboring Gambia in 2017. Sall stirred controversy for undemocratic maneuvers, including repressing the political opposition in Senegal and attempting a self-coup, which sparked the 2023–2024 Senegalese protests. Macky Sall is a candidate to succeed António Guterres as Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2027. His candidacy has been endorsed by Burundi and is supported by a number of African countries.
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 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. They have three children.
Sall joined Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) in the late 1980s. 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. 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.
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. Following the death of Mourides religious leader Serigne Saliou Mbacké in late December 2007, his successor, Serigne Mouhamadou Lamine Bara Mbacké, asked Wade to forgive Sall; Wade then met with Sall and the two were said to have made peace in early January 2008. Sall nevertheless remained at odds with the PDS leadership in 2008. In September 2008, a PDS deputy presented the bill to reduce the term of the President of the National Assembly to one year, and later in the month, Sall was called before the PDS Disciplinary Committee, although he did not appear. On this occasion, Sall was accused of divisive personal initiatives within the party; he also allegedly committed "acts aimed at undermining the image of the party and country", referring in particular to Sall's visits to the Senate of France and the United States Democratic Party's 2008 Convention. A statement released by Sall's political adviser condemned the move to discipline Sall as an "attempt at political liquidation". On 13 October 2008, the National Assembly voted to reduce the term of the President of the National Assembly to one year; this was approved by President Wade on 21 October. Despite Sall's determined efforts to maintain his position, the National Assembly voted to dismiss him as President of the National Assembly on 9 November 2008. There were 111 votes in favor of his removal and 22 against it. Sall promptly announced that he was resigning from the PDS; this decision meant that he would lose his seat in the National Assembly, as well as his seat on Fatick's municipal council and his post as Mayor of Fatick. He also said that he would create a new party. Mamadou Seck was elected to replace Sall as President of the National Assembly on 16 November 2008.
Sall founded his own party, the Alliance for the Republic–Yaakaar (APR), on 1 December 2008. The Interior Ministry accused Sall of money laundering on 26 January 2009; Sall denied this and said that the accusation was politically motivated. In late February 2009 it was decided not to prosecute Sall due to lack of evidence. Following the March 2009 local election in Fatick, Sall was re-elected to his former post as Mayor in April 2009. He received 44 votes from the 45 municipal councillors present; the Sopi Coalition's five councillors were not present for the vote. In the same local elections, the APR was also successful in the city of Gossas, twelve districts in the north of the country and three in the south. Intending to stand in the 2012 Presidential elections, Sall travelled through Senegal and met with members of the Senegalese overseas community. He employed Jean-Pierre Pierre-Bloch, a former member of the French National Assembly who had previously been a close associate of Wade, as an advisor. In 2010, a poll indicated that he was the frontrunner for the presidency in Dakar and its environs.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
