The presidential election of March 24, 2024 finally took place, after much delay. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the candidate of the former party called African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) of the opponent Ousmane Sonko was elected President of the Republic. An election from the first round against his rival, Amabou Ba, the candidate of the party of outgoing President Macky Sall. The official provisional results crediting him with 54.28% of the votes on a participation of around 61.3%.
Prevented by legal problems which still raise questions, the president of the former party African Patriots of Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity (PASTEF), Ousmane Sonko, chose his understudy for the presidential election of March 24 2024. Despite the tensions which prevailed before the organization of this election, it took place rather calmly. And the Senegalese mobilized to vote.
From the list of around twenty candidates in the running and from which Karim Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) was excluded - also due to legal problems - the Senegalese chose in favor of change. By granting their votes to the anti-system opposition camp, they chose the path of relaxation and renewal. The Ousmane Sonko-Bassirou Diomaye Faye duo were the standard bearers. Both released from prison, it was Bassirou Diomaye Faye who was able to present himself was elected against Amadou Ba, the candidate of the party of outgoing President Macky Sall, the Alliance for the Republic (APR-Yaakaar) and his CoalitionBenno BokkYaakaar.
A confirmed institutional democracy
Senegalese democracy built by the late President Léopold Sedar Senghor following the country's independence and consolidated by former President Abdou Diouf has not been the same since. The two Presidents of the Republic who followed its first two pioneers, namely former Presidents Abdoulaye Wade and MakySall, have in fact weakened it in its foundations through their economic and socio-political management of Senegal. Weighed down by intrigues and other manipulations against a backdrop of corruption. If the first had tried to obtain a Third mandate before being forced by popular will to give it up, the second did not seek to avoid the temptation either. Even if to this day, it is difficult to understand what Macky Sall really wanted to do. Was it trying to get to the end of his two years that he himself had amputated with his constitutional reform which reduced the presidential mandate from seven years to five years? It is difficult to say at present what these delays and vacillations regarding organizing the presidential election on the right date meant. It will be up to the political history of the country to enlighten public opinion when the time comes on this game of mic-mac which has not only eroded the image of Senegal but also that of Macky Sall. Still, if one can still talk about Democracy in Senegal today, we must salute the eminently republican character of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Senegalese Army. An army which, until now, has always placed itself above the political fray, and which deserves satisfaction. Because, in practice, “Senegalese democracy” is very imperfect when you look closely. Worse than in many African countries where Republican Institutions do not function normally.
Macky Sall did not help Amadou Ba
The APR-Yaakaar and its Coalition Benno BokkYaakaar clearly did not help their candidate Amadou Ba to win the presidential election of March 24, 2024. Starting with the outgoing President Macky Sall himself, one is entitled to wonder if he still really wanted to see the candidate chosen as runner-up win. His reversals to try, if not to cancel, at least to postpone the date of the presidential election, constitute question marks. Not content with having led to friction within his own political camp with the choice of his candidate, Macky Sall has increasingly weakened him. By dint of procrastination.
Amadou Ba, the former Prime Minister, therefore ended up paying the costs of years of bad governance, corruption, but above all injustices of President Macky Sall face to many opponents and to Ousmane Sonko in particular for most Senegalese . And for good reason, the presidential election was transformed into a Referendum for or against the continuity of the APR-Yaakaar and its Benno BokkYaakaar Coalition. Seen from this angle, the task only proved easier for the adversaries of the dying regime. One should also not neglect the important call from former President Abdoulaye Wade, President of the PDS, to vote in favor of candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye on the eve of the election. With strong supporting arguments.
Without even waiting for the total counting of the ballot boxes, through a press release made public, and the candidate Amadou Ba authorized himself to declare: “In view of the trends in the results of the presidential election and while awaiting the official proclamation, I congratulate the President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye for his victory in the first round”. A gesture of elegance and importance which has its weight in gold at a time when the country needed serenity to turn the page on years of socio-political tension. In short, avoid further unnecessary friction or violence.
The challenges of a change of direction
Shared power between Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko who had no other political and strategic choice than to position his foe is not the hardest challenge to resolve. Far from it. Beyond personal susceptibilities, they cannot chicken out after having promised and sold the Senegalese a change and even a “Rupture”. Even if you always have to be wary of projects.
What the Duo who will govern Senegal from now on sold to the Senegalese is what they called their “the Project”. With the key being a catalog of good intentions and actions to be carried out and on which the Senegalese will be waiting for them around the corner. These include, among other things, “the rehabilitation of the institutions of the Republic”, “the restoration of the rule of law”. Which, according to him, were flouted by President Macky Sall according to the winning duo of the presidential election. To this, one must add transparency and a better redistribution of the country's wealth. The question of changing the CFA Franc is another challenge to meet the requirement of “Sovereignty”. There is no shortage of challenges for Senegal where young people have many daily problems and lack prospects for the future. If its youth chose to have young people reach the highest summit of the State, it is not by chance or to celebrate only the fact of being young. Already, the Senegalese are expecting concrete and beneficial actions in favor of youth from Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the fifth President of Senegal who is 44 years old. Because the presidential election, like the opposition to Macky Sall, is now over for him and his mentor Ousmane Sonko. It's time for governance and the test of power for the Ousmane Sonko-Bassirou Diomaye Faye duo.
By Abdul Yazid
