Who is Diomaye Faye, the new Senegalese president?

Senegal’s main opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye appears to have won Sunday’s presidential election.

The electoral body has yet to release details about the results as vote counting is under way. Official results are expected to be announced in the coming days. But results released so far already show Faye with more than 50%of the vote, which eliminates the need for a run-off.

The outgoing governing coalition’s candidate, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, conceded defeat to Faye hours after saying he was ready for a run-off vote. Incumbent President Macky Sall has also congratulated Faye on his victory.

Faye ran as an independent candidate

Faye has been thrust into the centre of Senegalese politics more than a week after he was released from prison along with his firebrand mentor Ousmane Sonko, who was disqualified from standing in the election because of a defamation conviction.

The 44-year-old leader contested the elections as an independent due to the dissolution of his Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF) party last July for causing unrest. The PASTEF party, which was founded by Sonko in 2014, endorsed Faye.

The left-wing populist has been organising protests against President Macky Sall accusing his government of corruption and failing to address chronic poverty. Sall’s decision to extend the elections originally scheduled for February triggered the latest round of political crisis. The elections were held after the intervention of the Constitutional Court.

Faye met Sonko while working as a tax inspector in the government’s taxes and estates department, where they were instrumental in the formation of a labour union.

In April 2023, Faye was arrested on charges including spreading false news, contempt of court and defamation of a constituted body, for a social media post. Sonko was arrested on multiple charges in July 2023 including provoking insurrection, conspiring with “terrorist” groups, endangering state security and immoral behaviour towards individuals younger than 21.

Faye, alongside Sonko, was released late on March 14, days before the vote, after an amnesty law was passed this month.

19 candidates took part in the elections

Nineteen candidates were in the race to replace outgoing President Sall, who has been in power since 2012. Sall’s second term was marred by political unrest over the prosecution of Sonko. The second-placed Amadou Ba was backed by Sall. Victory for Ba, 62, would have meant a continuation of the previous government’s policy.

Other candidates included former Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, who dubbed himself the “president of reconciliation”, and the two-time mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who was running for the fourth time and has already congratulated Faye.

In July 2023, Sall announced that he would not contest the election for a third term following deep political unrest, iterating that Senegal’s constitution would have allowed him to. Sonko had called Sall to bow out of this election, accusing him of cracking down on the opposition to sideline competition. Sall provoked further controversy after he delayed the elections that was originally set for February 25.

Term limits have been a hotly debated topic in Senegal for the past two decades. When former President Abdoulaye Wade came to power in 2000, the constitution did not have term limits. Wade amended it in 2001 to impose a two-term limit. However, to extend his own time in office, Wade successfully campaigned for a third term, earning the approval of Senegal’s highest court.

Faye pledged to fight endemic corruption

Faye has pledged to weed out corruption, restore stability and prioritise economic sovereignty, appealing to the urban youth frustrated by unemployment in the West African country where 60% of the population is aged under 25.

He wants to rid Senegal of the CFA franc inherited from the colonial era, which is pegged to the euro. He proposes introducing a new currency instead. The CFA franc, backed by the French treasury, is accepted in 14 member countries. Additionally, he wishes to renegotiate mining and hydrocarbon contracts. The country is expected to start hydrocarbon production this year.

The biggest challenge for the new leader would be to address the more than 20% unemployment rate.