The election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye as the President of Senegal was not just victory for the young people of Africa but for young people all over the world. The road to the presidential palace in Dakar was rough and tortuous for the former tax inspector. In fact, his was a classic case of from prison to the presidency.
Former President Mackay Sall’s presidency was characterized by high-handedness and sheer intolerance for dissenting views. In fact, if he had his way, the election would not have held. The election was to originally hold on February 25 but Sall, via a presidential proclamation of February 3rd, it was postponed indefinitely. But on 15 February, the Senegalese Constitutional Council overturned the postponement and ordered elections to proceed as soon as possible hence, government had no option than to proceed with the election which eventually held on March 24.
On its own, the Senegalese presidential election is a bit queer in terms of eligibility of a candidate to contest in the election. If anyone wants his or name on the ballot on the day of the presidential election, he or she must receive between 0.8 percent and 1 percent of the electorate’s signatures. These signatures must be collected with at least 2,000 sponsorships in each of the seven of Senegal’s fourteen regions. There is also the option of receiving sponsorships from at least 13 members of the National Assembly, or 120 mayors and heads of regions. And there must be also a deposit of 30 million CFA francs to be paid by candidates at the Caisse des dépôts et consignations.
Bassirou Faye was the candidate of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (which in French means Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour le Travail, l’Ethique et la Fraternité) PASTEF. But the road to his emergence as the candidate of the then opposition party was full of potholes. In fact, a month before the election, Faye was in jail.
The PASTEF was established by Ousmane Sonko. But if there was one assignment former President Fall gave himself, it was to ensure that Sonko did not succeed him. Trumped up charges upon trumped charges were being leveled against Sonko by the government.
Sonko had formed PASTEF in 2014 and contested for the presidency in 2019 during which he asked that the Franc be replaced by a domestic currency. But since Sonko formed the party, it seemed it had been one trouble after the other despite the fact that he was one time a member of the National Assembly. In February 2021, a worker in a massage parlour had filed a complaint against Sonko accusing him of “repetitive rape and death threats”. Less than three weeks later, on 3 March 2021, Sonko was arrested near Cheikh Anta Diop University and charged with disturbing public order. Even a toddler in Dakar and the whole of Senegal knew these were trumped charges to ensure that Sonko was politically emasculated.
Sonko’s arrest led to protests and there were clashes in Dakar, Bignona and Diaobe and when the billows of smokes cleared, 14 people had been reported dead. After two years of legal brickbats, Sonko was cleared of sexual abuse allegations but was convicted of corrupting the youths of the country. From all indications, Sonko would not be able to fly the flag of the party at the presidential elections. It seemed that was the agenda of the ruling party and they were not ready to back down. Even when PASTEF nominated Sonko, the eligibility issues still came up due to the fact that he had been convicted. And that was when Bassirou Faye came in.
Born on 25 March 1980 in Ndiaganiao, in the western department of M’Bour, Faye’s father, Samba Faye, is a long-time member of the Socialist Party of Senegal, who once said his son had left wing ideas.
Faye attended primary school in his village and then undertook middle and high school in M’Bour. In 2000, Faye earned his baccalaureate and a master’s degree in law in Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University and passed both competitive exams, enrolling at the National School of Administration of Senegal (ENA) and the magistracy in 2004. Faye’s job as tax inspector made his path and that of Ousmane Sonko to cross. And when Sonko became the leader of the newly founded political party, PASTEF, it was natural that Faye joined.
At the initial stage, Faye was not too involved in PASTEF activities but he quickly rose to become one of the most prominent figures within the party. He would go on to become one of the ideologues and designers of Sonko’s programme for his candidacy in the 2019 Senegalese presidential election. Sonko gained almost 16% of the vote and came third. In February 2021, Faye became the general secretary of PASTEF after Sonko was arrested, being accused of repeated rape.
In April last year, Faye was trailed and apprehended as he exited his tax and property office on Rue de Thiong in Dakar. After that, he was placed under police custody for charges including “spreading false news, contempt of court, and defamation of a constituted body” following a social media post he made. In February of that same 2023, on his Facebook account, Faye had denounced the perceived injustice within the judicial system, foreseeing a verdict that could potentially disqualify Sonko in a legal dispute between PASTEF. Faye was given additional charges of “incitement to insurrection” and “undermining state security”. Hence, he was placed in jail indefinitely.
At this point, there had been uncertainty over the possibility of Sonko being a candidate in the presidential election. Not ready to take chances going by the antics of the ruling party concerning Sonko, PASTEF endorsed Faye in November 2023 as its candidate for the 2024 presidential election even when he was still in detention. When the names of presidential candidates were to be published, Sonko’s name was not there and the PASTEF quickly endorsed Faye. Faye’s candidacy received a huge boost when former president Abdoulaye Wade and his Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) endorsed him on the same day his name was announced.
In the March 24, 2024 elections, Faye garnered a total of 2,434,751 representing 54.28% while Amadou Ba polled 1,605,086 representing 35.79 of total votes cast.
Faye’s election, beyond what it meant for young people on the continent as it relates to political inclusiveness, it was also a major boost for democracy in the West African region where democracy has been under serious threat in the last four to five years. Countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea Bissau are under the jackboots of military rule. In fact, Niger’s case is instructive as efforts by Nigeria and former French colonial masters, French, made serious efforts to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bassoum. But all the efforts failed. Ironically, citizens of these countries seem to be comfortable with the coup d’etas in their respective countries. The successful transition of power from one democratically elected president to another in Senegal should give hope to other countries in the region. Not only has Senegal been a bastion of democracy in the sub-region, it has not had military rulership since independence from France in 1960. The first President was Leopold Sedar Senghor who was in office from 1960 to 1980 and succeeded by Abdou Diouf who was in office from January 1, 1981 till 1st April, 2000 when he was succeeded by Mohammed Wade following popular call for multi-party democracy. Wade was succeeded by Macky Sall after he (Wade) spent 12 years in office. And now, Faye is succeeding Sall in another transfer of power from one civilian to another.
Faye has his job cut out in Senegal as he carries on his shoulders, hopes of millions of young Senegalese who are suffering serious economic challenges occasioned by Covid-19 and general global economic downturn. Will he be able to meet the expectations of those who are looking up to him? It is instructive that he picked Sonko as his Prime Minister which means their party is firmly in power.
Will they pull Senegal out of economic and political abyss? Only time will tell.