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Bassirou Diomaye Faye speaks after being sworn in as Senegal’s President at an exhibition centre in the new town of Diamniadio near the capital Dakar on April 2, 2024. (Photo by John WESSELS / AFP) |
Opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in as Senegal’s president, becoming Africa’s youngest elected leader less than three weeks after he was released from prison to run in last month’s election.
Faye won by a landslide against the ruling party candidate,
former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, in a vote that pivoted on the frustration of
Senegalese youth over a lack of jobs and poor governance in one of the world’s
fastest-growing economies. About a fifth of the population is unemployed and
more than a third of the nation’s 18 million inhabitants live in poverty,
according to official data.
“Before God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully
fulfil the office of President of the Republic of Senegal,” Faye said before
the gathered officials.
He also vowed to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the
Constitution and the laws” and to defend “the integrity of the territory and
national independence, and to spare no effort to achieve African unity”.
The formal handover of power with outgoing President Macky
Sall will take place at the presidential palace in Dakar.
Faye was among a group of political opponents freed from
prison 10 days before the March 24 presidential ballot under an amnesty
announced by Sall, who had tried to delay the vote.
Faye’s campaign was launched while he was still in
detention.
The former tax inspector becomes the West African state’s
fifth president since independence from France in 1960 and the first to openly
admit to a polygamous marriage.
Working with his populist mentor Ousmane Sonko, who was
barred from the election, Faye declared their priorities in his victory speech:
national reconciliation, easing a cost-of-living crisis and fighting
corruption.
The anti-establishment leader has vowed to restore national
sovereignty over key assets such as the oil, gas and fishing sectors.
Faye wants to leave the regional CFA franc, which he sees as
a French colonial legacy, and to invest more in agriculture with the aim of
reaching food self-sufficiency.
But he has also sought to reassure investors that Senegal
“will remain a friendly country and a sure and reliable ally for any partner
that engages with us in virtuous, respectful and mutually productive
cooperation.”
After three tense years and deadly unrest in the
traditionally stable nation, his democratic victory was hailed from Washington
to Paris, via the African Union and the European Union.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke with
the president-elect by telephone and “underscored the United States’ strong
interest in deepening the partnership” between their two countries, the State
Department said.
On the international stage, Faye seeks to bring military-run
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger back into the fold of the regional Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc.
New generation of politicians
Commonly known as Diomaye, or “the honourable one” in the
local Serer language, he won the election with 54.3 percent of the vote.
It was a remarkable turnaround after the government had
dissolved the Pastef party he founded with Sonko in 2014, with Sall postponing
the election.
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Bassirou Diomaye Faye (L) is sworn in as Senegal’s President at an exhibition centre in the new town of Diamniadio near the capital Dakar on April 2, 2024. (Photo by John WESSELS / AFP) |
Faye, a practising Muslim from a humble background with two wives and four children, represents a new generation of youthful politicians.
He has voiced admiration for US ex-president Barack Obama
and South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.
However, Faye and the government he must unveil will quickly
face major challenges.
He does not have a majority in the National Assembly and
will have to look to build alliances to pass new laws, or call a legislative
election, which will become an option from mid-November.
The biggest challenge
will be creating enough jobs in a nation where 75 percent of the 18-million
population is aged under 35 and the unemployment rate is officially 20 percent.
Many youths have considered the future so bleak they have
risked their lives to join the waves of migrants trying to reach Europe.
Sall, meanwhile, has been appointed special envoy of the
Paris Pact for People and Planet, created to combat poverty, protect the planet
and support vulnerable countries.