Basirou Diomay Faye is president of Senegal and the ruling coalition admits loss

Supporters of Basirou Diomai Faye celebrate his victory in front of his campaign headquarters (French)

Dakar

- On Monday, Senegal's ruling coalition officially acknowledged the victory of opposition candidate Bessirou Diomaye Faye in the presidential elections, after preliminary official results showed that the candidate of the banned "Pasteif" party is heading to resolve the battle in the first round.

Outgoing President Macky Sally congratulated Diomai Fay on his victory in the elections in the first round, and considered this a victory for Senegalese democracy. He also praised the atmosphere in which the voting took place.

Before announcing the initial official results, the ruling coalition candidate, Amadou Fa, acknowledged the loss, in a way that reflects a political tradition that has prevailed for a quarter of a century.

Since President Abdou Diouf's loss to his rival Abdoulaye Wade in 2000, and Wade's loss to his rival Macky Sall, the transfer of power has been characterized by the acknowledgment of loss and the peaceful handing over of power to the winner.

Basirou Diomai Faye (44 years old), who is described as a candidate from outside the institutions, is the fifth president of Senegal, and the vote counting showed that he led by a percentage exceeding the threshold required for a decision in the first round. Thus, the “Pasteif” party, the most prominent opposition party, despite its ban, has succeeded. By bringing his candidate to the highest position in the state.

The opposition ran in the presidential race from behind bars, with the party's leader, Ousman Sonoko, in prison and excluded from the candidacy.

From outside political circles

After the Constitutional Council decided to remove Sonoko from the list of candidates due to a court ruling against him, the choice fell on Diomai Faye, who was in turn in prison, as a candidate for the Pastif party, and thus the man, who had no previous experience in running political elections, moved to the president of one of the most prominent... Democracies in Africa.

In the political sense, it can be said that the election result was among the expected scenarios, but the biggest surprise was that the race was decided in the first round with 60% of the votes, crossing the electoral threshold by a large margin, and obtaining an absolute majority, and this is what made it easier for the opposition to declare victory and made it inevitable for the ruling coalition. Acknowledgment of loss.

Sonoko (centre) is the one who nominated Diomai Faye to run in the presidential elections (French-Archive)

Head maker

Ousman Sonoko led the “Patriots for Action, Ethics and Fraternity” party, known by the acronym “ASTPV,” to this victory. He had previously run in the 2019 elections as a competitor to the president and came in third place.

In 2021, he was accused of rape, but he pleaded not guilty and described the accusations as malicious. There were widespread protests in Senegal at that time, which were renewed with Macky Sall’s attempts to postpone the elections.

Ousmane Sonoko managed his battle with the government with remarkable political acumen, and his adoption of Diomay Fay’s candidacy was the cornerstone in winning the highest political position in Senegal. He attended all electoral events and directed his supporters’ votes in favor of Diomay Fay, and benefited from the outgoing president’s mistakes at the political level and the economic difficulties to lead a campaign. An election that seems to have paid off.

Sal made a mistake... so Pastef won.

Macky Sall's decision to postpone the elections until the end of this year may have been the fatal political mistake that cost the ruling coalition the presidency, and the Constitutional Council overturned the president's decision, but the ruling coalition's candidate, Amadou Bah, himself was an extension of the existing policy, and this in turn was not in his favor, and the results of the ballot boxes appeared A crystallization of adherence to democratic traditions in Senegal.

Many of the supporters of the elected Senegalese president are young people who aspire to improve their conditions (French)

Challenges facing the president-elect

The elected president faces several challenges. Internally, he will have to strengthen the confidence of young people, whose voice was a lever for his accession to office. Unemployment is one of the most pressing issues, as it reached about 19.5% in the third quarter of last year, according to official figures.

Unemployment and lack of job opportunities are the driving force behind the high rates of irregular migration towards Europe.

Inflation, in turn, is a major problem that erodes the purchasing power of the population. It is true that it is a problem that is not limited to Senegal, but the elected president will have to develop a road map to get out of the high rates that have already led to a reduction in consumption rates, and to waste the salary increases that were approved last summer.

oil and gas

Oil and gas are among the most prominent cards of the president-elect, and the World Bank has previously considered them to be the lever of the economy. According to official estimates, the country is close to achieving a production capacity of about 100 thousand barrels of oil per day, and about 2.5 million tons of gas annually, but they are a double-edged sword, according to The elected president, as long as the contracts do not play in the state's favor.

During the election campaigns, the leader of "PASTIF", Othman Sonko, promised to renegotiate energy contracts to increase state revenues on the one hand, and to benefit from them in developing the energy production sector on the other hand, and the dispute over investing in gas production locally was the reason behind the withdrawal of the British company "BP" at the end of the year. The past after seeking to export all production.

With the turning of the page on elections and three years of turmoil, Senegal is preparing to enter a new political phase, headlined by a young president new to political life, armed with the support of a veteran politician who is good at addressing the street and the citizen, and neither of the two men - President-elect Basserou Diomaye Faye or his godfather, Ousmane Sonoko - adopts Any hostile speech abroad, towards France or others, and they adopt a language that sees the interior as a priority.

Source: Al Jazeera