Global Courant
Early results from Sunday’s presidential election in Senegal show opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the lead, prompting his supporters to celebrate on the streets of the capital Dakar, hoping the new government will tackle persistent poverty and corruption will tackle.
The ruling coalition’s candidate, Amadou Ba, conceded defeat to Faye on Monday, hours after saying he was ready for a second vote. A candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
The electoral body has not yet released details of the results as the counting of votes is underway. The official results are expected to be announced in the coming days.
Here you can read more about presidential candidate Faye and what the results would mean for the future of Senegalese democracy.
Who is Bassirou Diomaye Faye?
Faye has found himself at the center of Senegalese politics for more than a week after being released from prison along with his incendiary mentor Ousmane Sonko, who was disqualified from running in the elections due to a libel conviction.
The 44-year-old leader contested the elections as an independent following the dissolution of his Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF) party last July for causing unrest. The PASTEF party, which Sonko founded in 2014, supported Faye.
The left-wing populist is organizing protests against President Macky Sall, accusing his government of corruption and failing to tackle chronic poverty. Sall’s decision to extend the election originally scheduled for February sparked the latest round of political crisis.
The elections took place after the intervention of the Constitutional Court.
Faye was born in 1980 in Ndiaganiao, west-central Senegal. He met Sonko when he worked as a tax inspector in the Tax and Estates Department, where they were instrumental in the formation of a union.
Why was Faye in prison?
In April 2023, Faye was arrested on charges including spreading false news, contempt of court and defamation of a body, over a social media post.
Sonko was arrested in July 2023 on multiple charges, including incitement of insurrection, conspiracy with ‘terrorist’ groups, endangering state security and immoral conduct towards persons under the age of 21.
Faye, along with Sonko, was released late on March 14, days before the election, after an amnesty law was passed this month.
What is his policy?
Faye, a former tax inspector, has pledged to root out corruption, restore stability and prioritize economic sovereignty, appealing to urban youth frustrated by unemployment in the West African country, where 60 percent of the population is under 25 years old.
He wants to rid Senegal of the CFA franc inherited from the colonial era and linked to the euro. He proposes introducing a new currency instead. The CFA franc, backed by the French treasury, is accepted in 14 member states.
In addition, he wants to renegotiate mining and hydrocarbon contracts. The country is expected to start producing hydrocarbons this year.
The biggest challenge for the new leader would be tackling the unemployment rate of over 20 percent.
“It is an injustice that I cannot find work. I have received a state diploma and the state cannot find work for me,” Yacoub Diouf from Senegal told Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque.
Who are the other candidates in the fray?
Nineteen candidates are in the fray to replace outgoing President Sall, who has been in power since 2012. Sall’s second term was marred by political unrest over the prosecution of Sonko.
Second place Amadou Ba was supported by Sall. A victory for Ba, 62 years old and former prime minister of Senegal, would have meant a continuation of the previous government’s policies.
Other candidates include former Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, who called himself the “president of reconciliation”, and the two-time mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who is running for the fourth time and has already congratulated Faye.
Al Jazeera’s Haque reported that women who contribute heavily to the country’s tertiary industry are a key voter demographic. However, the only female candidate was entrepreneur and political newcomer Anta Babacar Ngom, who runs Senegal’s largest poultry company. Ngom has already wished Faye success as leader of Senegal in an X-post.
In July 2023, Sall announced that he would not contest elections for a third term after deep political unrest, reiterating that Senegal’s constitution would have allowed him to do so. Sonko had called on Sall to withdraw from these elections, accusing him of cracking down on opposition to side competition. Sall faced further controversy after postponing the election, which was originally scheduled to take place on February 25.
Term limits have been a hot topic in Senegal over the past two decades. When former President Abdoulaye Wade came to power in 2000, the constitution had no term limits. Wade amended it in 2001 to impose a two-term limit. However, to extend his term in office, Wade successfully campaigned for a third term, gaining the approval of Senegal’s highest court.
Will the elections lead to a second vote?
At least seven of the 19 candidates in the race have issued statements congratulating Faye on his victory.
About 71 percent of the 7.3 million registered voters turned out at the polls, according to state television RTS.
The final preliminary results are expected on Tuesday. The official results could be announced on Friday.
What would the results mean for the future of democracy in Senegal?
A victory for Faye is a good sign for democracy in Senegal, said Alioune Tine, founder of the Afrikajom Center think tank and Amnesty International’s former regional director for West and Central Africa.
“Democracy was sick of political violence, of state violence, of death,” Tine told Al Jazeera, referring to the political violence of recent years. He added that Sonko’s failure to participate in the elections further showed that democracy was sick.
“But he (Sonko) had the brilliant idea of nominating his number two candidate,” he said.
Tine added that a positive aspect of Senegal’s democracy is that it has never allowed a military coup since independence, unlike other West African countries where political crises amount to coups.
