From prison to power

Less than three weeks ago, he was in prison on charges of violations against the Senegalese state. Today, he is the country’s president-elect, having won the election held 24th March against stiff power of incumbency that could have advantaged the candidate of the ruling coalition. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, is a political newcomer who has emerged the youngest president ever of his country. He won at first ballot with 54.28 percent of votes cast over the ruling coalition torchbearer, Amadou Ba, who distantly trailed with 35.79 percent of the votes according to official tally announced at the weekend by the Senegalese electoral commission.

Faye will take power as substantive president few hours hence when the term of the outgoing president, Macky Sall, expires on 2nd April. His ascension in office by peaceful transition consolidates Senegal’s record as the most stable democracy in the West African sub-region, and should pull the country back from the brink of instability where it perched in the last three years of Sall’s presidency. The election penultimate Sunday held against the backdrop civil restiveness fuelled by the outgoing president’s attempt to delay the vote and, by implication, extend his tenure beyond the constitutional limit. Senegalese citizens resisted that attempt on the country’s streets and before her court of law, and they won the battle.

The new leader owes his poll victory in a large measure to the backing of firebrand opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was barred from running as candidate due to a defamation conviction. He contested the elections as an independent following the dissolution last July of his Patriots of Senegal (Pastef) party by the Sall administration for fomenting civil unrest. Pastef party, founded by Sonko in 2014, endorsed Faye who in concert with Sonko had organised left-wing populist protests against Macky Sall, whose government they accused of corruption and failing to address chronic poverty in the country. Both men had been held in jail since 2023 and were released on an amnesty law only 10 days before the 24th March poll. They campaigned together on the slogan “Sonko is Diomaye, Diomaye is Sonko,” promising to fight corruption and prioritise national economic interests over France’s colonial affiliation. Faye was born 1980 in west-central region of Senegal and met Sonko, 49, while they both worked as tax inspectors in the government’s taxes and estates department where they were instrumental to forming a trade union.

Faye was arrested in April 2023 on charges that included spreading false news, contempt of court and defamation of constituted authority with a social media post. Sonko, for his part, was arrested in July 2023 on multiple charges including provoking insurrection, conspiring with “terrorist” groups, endangering state security and “immoral” behaviour towards individuals younger than 21 years. Both men were released late on 14th March, following which they plunged straight into campaign towards the election. Faye’s triumph marked a hard blow by Senegalese voters against Sall who though not on the ballot, backed Ba, 62, prime minister in his government who only resigned to contest the poll as the ruling coalition candidate. It also marked a generational statement of sorts by the citizenry where 60 percent of the 18 million Senegalese population are under 25 years.

Attempts to delay the vote by Sall, who had been in power since 2012 and whose second term was hobbled by civil unrest over the prosecution of Sonko, did not help Ba’s chances. Suspicions were rife that the outgoing president was angling for a third term, until July 2023 when he announced on the back of political riots that he would not seek re-election, though he argued that Senegal’s constitution allowed him to so do if he wished. Sall returned on 3rd February to pull the election that had been scheduled for 25th February, just few days before campaigns by candidates were due to get underway. He issued a decree to that effect, saying he acted to protect the integrity of the vote following allegations of corruption and disputes over the eligibility of some presidential candidates. But critics accused him of seeking to extend his time in office or hold up the poll to better prepare his candidate – accusations  he denied. The Senegalese parliament , on 5th February, weighed in by voting to push the election back till 15th December, during which time Sall was mandated to remain in office. 

“Faye’s victory…reinforced Senegal’s credential on the potency of opposition”

Opposition actors led public protests against the poll delay and filed legal challenges before the Constitutional Council, which on 15th February overruled Sall and declared parliament’s law shifting the poll to December contrary to Senegal’s constitution. The council, Senegal’s top election authority, said the 2nd April expiration of Sall’s tenure could not be varied and ordered relevant authorities to conduct the presidential poll as would give effect to that term limit. After weeks of confusion, the government set 24th March as the new poll date, resulting in rushed electioneering that clashed with the fasting month of Ramadan in a country where 95 percent of the population are Moslem. Sall’s amnest by which Sonko and Faye were freed from jail on 14th March was widely perceived as targeted at softening public sentiment towards his administration and, in effect, the ruling coalition’s candidate. Only that the move didn’t help in winning public support for Amadou Ba or staunch Faye’s popularity momentum. Some 7.3million of the Senegalese population were registered as voters, and turnout for the election was about 71 percent according to official estimates. Reports said on election day, calm queues formed outside polling stations, with many voters having woken up to pray before daybreak and heading straight to where they would vote after breaking their fast.

By the recent poll, Senegal not only has its youngest president ever but an anti-establishment civil activist. During electioneering, he pledged to weed out corruption, restore socio-political stability and prioritise economic sovereignty. His candidacy appealed to urban youth frustrated by high unemployment record of the Sall administration. He also said he would rid Senegal of the CFA franc inherited from the colonial era that is pegged to the euro, and proposed introducing a national currency in its place. Besides, with the country expected to start hydrocarbon production this year, Faye indicated plans to renegotiate mining and hydrocarbon contracts, though he assured that Senegal would honour existing obligations. When accused by establishment politicians of anarchism over his currency agenda, he soft-pedalled somewhat saying he would first seek to reform the franc, and it is when such reform fails he would dump the colonial legacy. But in a public address early last week, he displayed his hard anti-colonial bent in a Francophobic tirade by which he called out France to “stay off Senegal’s neck.” Many considered the address unduly blistering for the statesmanliness required of national leadership and hoped Faye would be more tempered by experience as he gets along in the high office. Meanwhile, the dripping resentment against France in that tirade does not portend a fighting chance for the franc in Senegal’s national life going forward.

Still, it was a resounding triumph for democracy in Senegal, one of few African countries in a region plagued by coups never to have experienced military intervention in power since her 1963 independence from France. That record was threatened sore by deadly political violence in the latter years of Sall’s tenure. Faye’s victory also reinforced Senegal’s credential on the potency of opposition – a trait that has seen opposition coalitions dislodge tight-sitting incumbents over past years in the country’s history. And it’s of no less significance that the Senegal experience proved the relevance of peer review. The country is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the bloc was in the forefront of nudging Sall to stick to the election timetable; when the constitutional council gave its 15th February verdict, the bloc spoke up to say it noted the court’s decision and “calls on competent authorities to set a date for the presidential election in accordance with the decision.” If ECOWAS posts proactive oversight on member-nations during political crises, that might go a long way to preempt intervention by military adventurers. All said, history will be kind to President Sall for submitting to the rule of law and allowing Senegalese voters to have their way by electing Faye.