Elections in Senegal: Faye ahead, Ba acknowledges defeat. What can happen now

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DAKAR (SENEGAL) – «Diomaye! Godmaye!». The choir begins to rise already in the early hours of the evening. At first he is shy, then he grows up and gets confused with the horns, the vuvuzelas, the roar of speeding cars. The first counts of the presidential elections on March 24 were enough to spark celebration for supporters of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a former tax agency official who is preparing to become the new president of Senegal. The data filtered during the night already gave him a solid lead, a projection confirmed by subsequent ballots. Now only the formality is missing from a victory already claimed by supporters and admitted by opponents.

Faye, 43, is the electoral alter ego of Ousmane Sonko, the opposition leader barred from voting due to a defamation conviction. His program includes the review of energy contracts with the international giants that are investing in Senegal and the exit from the CFA franc, the currency pegged to the euro that is used in an area of ​​14 countries.

In theory, there would be 19 candidates vying for the presidency, but the entire competition has been reduced to a clash between two: that of the Faye-Sonko tandem once morest Amadou Ba, the 62-year-old former prime minister sided in the contest by former president Macky Sall. The same political leader who had made Senegal teeter on the brink of an institutional coup, following having attempted to postpone the elections already set for February 25th by – at least – 10 months. Sources consulted by Sun 24 Hours they projected Faye above 55% in the first counts on the night between March 24th and 25th. Ba admitted defeat, with a note where he congratulated Faye for her “victory in the first round” and assured collaboration for a peaceful transition to power.

Senegal to vote amid tensions over constitution and gas

Already 10 candidates aligned with Faye

Senegal went to the polls for the renewal of the presidency following Sall’s two mandates, the final act of a phase of turbulence aggravated by the “institutional coup” of the outgoing president. His attempt to extend the deadlines of the second term sparked street protests and their repression, even in blood, inflaming the tone of the electoral campaign in view of the vote on March 24th. Sall himself tried to ease tensions with an amnesty law that released Faye and Sonko from prison and brought him back into play, the opponents who are now pressing him for succession to the presidency.

Faye’s supporters have already celebrated the victory and at least 10 of the 19 candidates in the running had lined up at the polls just closed in «Diomaye», as he is called by his voters, congratulating him on platform flooded with Senegalese flags, with cars and scooters in procession near Sonko’s home. «Change, change» is one of the slogans that recur throughout the night, celebrating the “end” of the Sall era and of relations of subordination with Westerners.