From a jail cell to Senegal’s presidency: the rapid rise of Bassirou Diomaye Faye

Bassirou Diomaye Faye began this month holed up in a cell at Dakar’s Cap Manuel prison. He will end it as his country’s president-elect after securing a stunning first-round victory in Senegal’s tense election.

Charged last year with defamation and other offences over a Facebook post critical of the government, Faye had been expected to stay in jail far longer. But thanks to an amnesty law introduced after a rapprochement between Senegal’s ruling party and Faye’s opposition coalition, he and his political mentor Ousmane Sonko were freed on March 14th to a rapturous welcome from supporters on the capital’s streets.

That support has put Faye (44) on course to become the youngest president in Senegal’s history when he takes office on April 2nd after winning 54 per cent of the vote.

His win was powered in part by the discontent of younger voters, among whom the unemployment rate is nearly 20 per cent. “[Faye’s] biggest challenge is the massive expectation,” said Paul Melly, an expert on francophone Africa at UK think-tank Chatham House.

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“There’s an army of young people who want him to create jobs and that will be very difficult. He has to find a way to do things that are deemed radical but are practical to achieve.”

Faye is an accidental president-in-waiting, a back-up plan put in place by the disbanded Pastef party, of which he was a founder member, in case Sonko (49), its radical leader, was barred from standing over a defamation conviction he maintains was politically motivated.

After the constitutional council confirmed Sonko’s exclusion from the race in January, his camp released a pre-recorded 44-minute video of him endorsing his “little brother” Faye and urging Senegalese people to vote for him instead.

Faye is a practising Muslim from Ndiaganiao, a village two hours east of Dakar, and has two wives, as is customary for many men in Senegal. While he has previously lacked Sonko’s profile, the pair are so close that Faye named one of his sons Ousmane.

[ Unrest and political allegations shake Senegal’s reputation for stability in a volatile region ]

Unlike Sonko, who is mayor of the southern town of Ziguinchor, Faye has no executive leadership experience; the election that brought him to the country’s highest office was the first national poll he had contested. He lost his first-ever election, a municipal contest, two years ago in his hometown.

Many Senegalese are now wondering what role, if any, Sonko will play in a Faye government and whether a clash of egos will ensue. Some analysts suggest Sonko may be appointed prime minister or foreign minister.

Faye has vowed to lead with “humility” and to “fight corruption at all levels”. He plans to review fishing agreements, including those with the EU, and contracts in Senegal’s oil and gas industry, which is due to start pumping crude for the first time this year. But his party has backed away from a pledge to drop the euro-backed CFA currency, which is used by eight west African states.

Faye’s election followed protests after incumbent president Macky Sall attempted to delay the vote by 10 months, a move opposition leaders called a “constitutional coup” designed to extend his term in office. The country’s constitutional council ruled the delay unlawful. Further support was pushed towards Faye’s grouping by what rights groups called authoritarian moves under Sall.

François Conradie, an analyst at the Oxford Economics Africa consultancy, said Faye’s win was a victory for Senegalese democracy. While allies of the outgoing government are warning of potential fiscal mismanagement by the new administration, Faye, a former tax inspector, would most probably gravitate towards the centre, Conradie said.

“The disappointment is going to come from the left, from people who expect more radical change than he will deliver,” Conradie said. “There has already been some unhappiness, in fact, that he gave his first address as president-elect in a suit instead of more traditional dress.”

For many of Senegal’s disillusioned younger generation, voting for Faye was a way to repudiate an establishment seen as out of touch. For them, steady annual growth in gross domestic product of about 5 per cent under Sall, investment in infrastructure and relative stability in a volatile region have failed to compensate for a lack of work.

The reserved Faye lacks Sonko’s captivating rhetoric. But the younger man has typically been the alliance’s strategist and is credited, as general secretary, with crafting Pastef’s election manifesto ahead of the 2019 presidential elections in which Sonko finished third.

“Faye knows there’s a need for running the government properly,” said Melly.

[ Homes swept away, livelihoods disrupted. A coastal community in Senegal battles the climate change tide ]

Faye’s party, La Coalition Diomaye Président, is an alliance of opposition groups formed after the government’s dissolution of Pastef. It has vowed to introduce the post of vice-president and reduce the head of state’s powers following anger over Sall’s attempt to delay the vote.

Faye was arrested in April 2023 over a Facebook post in which he argued the government was “trampling” on the justice system in relation to Sonko’s legal problems –at the time including a rape charge that Sonko denied, and of which he was subsequently acquitted, while being convicted of “corrupting the youth”.

In response, Faye was accused of “undermining state security” and charged with defamation, contempt of court and acts likely to compromise public peace. The status of those charges is unclear following the amnesty.

Faye made little secret on the campaign trail of being a proxy for Sonko, whom he met while both worked for the government tax office. Faye’s slogan in the Wolof language was “Diomaye mooy Sonko, Sonko mooy Diomaye”, or “Diomaye is Sonko, Sonko is Diomaye”.

Sonko has criticised former colonial power France and had previously accused Paris of working to derail his candidacy, meaning the relationship is a potential flashpoint. Faye pledged on Monday that Senegal would remain a “friendly country and the reliable ally of any partner who engages with us in virtuous, respectful and mutually productive co-operation”.

Adama Ndao, a transport worker in his 30s who voted for Faye, said he believes their coalition has the country’s best interests at heart. “Pastef has the programme to develop Senegal and Africa,” he said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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