The victory of Bassirou Diomaye Faye signals a change in political direction in Senegal. Many people are hoping for an orderly takeover.
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Elections in Senegal
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In Senegal, opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the presidential election with a surprisingly clear majority. His competitor and former Prime Minister Amadou Ba (62) congratulated Faye on her victory even before the official preliminary results of the election were published.
For the first time in the history of the West African country, a new president was elected in the first round of voting. Just a few hours after the polls closed, the counting indicated a clear lead for 44-year-old Faye. In order to win the presidential election in the first round, an absolute majority of votes had to be achieved. A runoff election was expected in the run-up to the election.
Faye’s assumption of the presidency could lead to political changes in Senegal. During the election campaign, Faye described herself as a “candidate for system change” and as a representative of “left-wing pan-Africanism”. He also promised to distribute the income from the country’s rich raw material reserves more fairly.
Faye was still in prison until a few days ago
Faye ran for the camp of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and his dissolved African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) party. Sonko is particularly popular among young people as an elite critic and anti-corruption fighter. Because of a conviction in a libel trial, he was not allowed to run in the elections.
Faye, who was unknown until a few months ago, was nominated as Sonko’s representative. The tax officer was released from prison along with Sonko through an amnesty law passed by the Constitutional Council just ten days before the election. He had been there since last April on charges of defamation and insulting the judge because he had criticized the judiciary in Sonko’s trial in a Facebook post.
The election should have taken place a month ago
During the election campaign, Faye campaigned on ridding Senegal of corruption and poor governance. Before the election there were weeks of protests in which four people died. President Macky Sall, who has been in power since 2012, decided not to run for an unconstitutional third term after political pressure, but then surprisingly canceled the presidential election scheduled for February 25th.
The Senegalese Constitutional Council ultimately declared the postponement invalid and set March 24 as the new election date. A good 7.3 million voters were registered, around 75 percent are under 35 years old.
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Faye did not initially comment publicly on the preliminary results. The official election results are expected to be announced next Friday by the Court of Appeal in Dakar. Senegal is considered one of Africa’s most stable democracies and has not experienced a coup or military coup since its independence.