Bassirou Diomaye Faye | Photo: Bloomberg
Senegal’s little-known 44-year-old opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye was named the country’s next president on Monday, less than two weeks after he was released from prison to run for election.
Although official results from Sunday’s vote were not yet available, the former prime minister, the other front-runner, and who was backed by incumbent President Macky Sall, conceded defeat based on preliminary results. Sall followed with congratulations and also named Faye as the winner.
Faye’s victory reflected frustration among young people over high unemployment and concerns about governance in the West African country. In his first speech as president-elect late Monday, the former tax inspector promised a new chapter after the months of violence and many political arrests that led to the elections.
“I pledge to govern with humility and transparency and to fight corruption at all levels. I promise to fully dedicate myself to rebuilding our institutions,” he said, repeating the promises he made during his campaign.
Faye, who was backed by popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, has vowed to improve Senegal’s control over its natural resources by promoting national companies to prevent the country from falling into what his campaign called “economic slavery.” He ran in place of his close ally Sonko, who was barred from running due to a previous conviction.
Sonko was also released on March 14 after months in prison amid jubilant celebrations in the capital, after the president announced a political amnesty.
Outgoing President Sall, who sparked violent protests earlier this year when he unsuccessfully tried to delay elections until the end of the year, described the vote’s outcome as a victory for Senegal. His former prime minister and the loser in the race, Amadou Ba, wished Faye luck in a statement shared by his campaign team.
The election followed months of unrest, sparked by the arrests of Faye and Sonko last year, and concerns that the president would seek a third term despite constitutional term limits. The violence shook Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region that has seen a wave of coups. According to human rights groups, dozens of people have been killed in the protests, while around a thousand people have been jailed.
Faye, the expected winner of the election, is a former tax collector and was little known until Sonko named him as his heir.
His roots lie in a small town in central Senegal. He is a practicing Muslim and has two wives. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Faye published a statement of his assets and called on other candidates to do the same. It mentions a house in Dakar and land outside the capital and in his birthplace. His bank accounts contain approximately $6,600.
“I would even say he is more honest than me. I put the project in his hands,” Sonko told supporters at a joint press conference in March last year. Weeks later, Faye was arrested and jailed on several charges, including defamation.
Alioune Tine, founder of Afrikajom Center, a Senegalese think tank, said the outcome of the vote proved that Senegal would survive after a difficult year that had undermined people’s confidence in democracy.
“From prison to the presidential palace,” says Tine. “The only country in Africa able to withstand a disease of its democracy that has shaken all its institutions, deeply shaken its society, and then recover from it.”
International analysts said a change in leadership in Senegal would come as a relief after months of violence, but raised new questions about the new government’s foreign policy at a time when the coastal country is becoming an oil and gas producer.
On Monday evening, Faye outlined some early foreign policy priorities, including reforming the troubled West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS.
“An opposition victory also means major changes in domestic and foreign policy,” said Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank. determine the foreign policy of the country’s new government.
In neighboring Sahel countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which have recently experienced military coups, sentiment has turned against France. The ruling juntas have ended military cooperation with France, turning instead to Russia for support.
The vote was largely peaceful with a high turnout, observers said. Early counts showed voters overwhelmingly in favor of the opposition. Sonko promised a resounding victory on his YouTube channel. By evening in Dakar, Faye had been declared the winner and celebrations broke out in Dakar.
In neighborhoods around the capital, supporters danced, played and lit fireworks late into the night.
“Our democracy will emerge stronger from these results,” says Ndeye Sow (27). “We are very happy, there was no violence here, peace is the order of the day.”
More than seven million people were registered to vote in a country with a population of about 17 million. To win, candidates had to receive more than 50 percent of the votes. It was Senegal’s fourth democratic transfer of power since it became independent from France more than sixty years ago.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 26, 2024 | 7:49 am IST