With the concession of
his main rival, a young political outsider backed by a powerful opposition
figure has won a surprise outright victory in Senegal’s presidential election
only 10 days after being released from jail.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye
is the anointed candidate of Senegal’s popular and controversial opposition
politician Ousmane Sonko. Mr. Faye’s main rival, the governing party candidate
Amadou Ba, conceded in a statement congratulating his rival on Monday.
Mr. Faye, who
celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday, will become the West African country’s
youngest ever president. He had been jailed on charges of defamation and
contempt of court, and was awaiting trial.
“I wish him a lot of
success, for the well-being of the Senegalese people,” Mr. Ba said in a
statement released on Monday afternoon.
Mr. Faye and Mr. Sonko
have captivated young people by excoriating political elites, pledging to
renegotiate contracts with oil and gas companies, and promising “monetary
sovereignty” — Senegal is one of 14 countries that uses the CFA, a currency
pegged to the euro and backed by France.
Mr. Ba was backed by
Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, who had served two terms and for years refused
to say whether he would try for a third. Mr. Sall threw the country into chaos
when he suddenly called off the election, which was supposed to happen in February,
and then, almost as suddenly, changed course.
Residents of Dakar,
Senegal’s coastal capital, began celebrating at 8 p.m. on Sunday, before many
polling stations had even had a chance to count the contents of their ballot
boxes. People danced, waved flags, and piled into cars and onto motorcycles, sounding
a cacophony of horns and shouting “Get out, Amadou Ba!” as they raced through
the streets.
And at midnight, supporters began to sing
Happy Birthday to Mr. Faye, who has gone from obscurity to winning the
presidency in a few short months.
But Mr. Faye was not
the only winner. Many Senegalese casting their ballots for him saw him merely
as a proxy for Mr. Sonko, the fiery orator who was jailed and barred from
running, and who anointed Mr. Faye in his place.
Mr. Faye is a former
tax collector who was jailed on charges of defamation and contempt of court,
after he accused magistrates of persecuting Mr. Sonko, who was himself
convicted of defamation and, separately, of corrupting a minor, after he was
accused of raping a young massage parlor employee.
Mr. Sonko has been
keen to emphasize that a vote for Mr. Faye — known to many as Diomaye — was a
vote for him.
“Diomaye is Sonko,”
read ubiquitous posters bearing the two men’s youthful, glowing faces.
Source: The New York Times
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Elections Project on Facebook and Twitter @Africanelection for more updates.
https://www.nytimes.com/
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