Elected on the evening of March 24 by the Senegalese in the first round, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the anti-system and pan-African candidate replaced the opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, who had been excluded from the presidential race.
From our correspondent in Dakar,
Dressed in a blue suit, President-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye spoke solemnly the day after the presidential election of March 24. “ By electing me President of the Republic, the Senegalese people made the choice of rupture (…) I commit to governing with humility and transparency, to fighting corruption at all levels “, declared the anti-system candidate from behind a desk, a few hours after a telephone call with Amadou Ba, his main rival and the candidate of the outgoing government who admitted his defeat.
Ten days after being released from eleven months in prison, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44 years old and unknown to the general public, finds himself at the gates of power. Plan B of the African Patriots Party Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity (Pastef), dissolved since July by the Senegalese authorities, this tax inspector was chosen to replace Ousmane Sonko, the charismatic leader who was prevented from running for president for legal reasons. Nothing predicted that this discreet right-hand man and man in the shadows would be elected to the highest offices of the State.
Co-founder of Pastef with Ousmane Sonko
Originally from the village of Ndiaganiao, about a hundred kilometers from Dakar in the Mbour department, Bassirou Diomaye Faye grew up in the rural world. A law graduate from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, he was admitted to the National School of Administration.
It was at the General Directorate of Taxes and Domains (DGID) that he met Ousmane Sonko, Birame Souleye Diop and Wally Diouf Bodiang with whom he co-founded Pastef in 2014. Head of the administrative and tax litigation office, he is renowned for his rigor and hard work. “ You must have a good technical level in law and taxation to control this office, because you have to handle administrative appeals from taxpayers. “, assures Waly Diouf Bodiang, deputy director of legislation at the DGID and member of Ousmane Sonko’s cabinet.
Together, they became politicized in the autonomous union of tax and domain agents (SAID), founded by Ousmane Sonko a few years earlier. Bassirou Diomaye Faye becomes its secretary general until 2022, after having been in legal affairs. “ He worked a lot on land so that DGID agents had access to land and land was distributed in a more transparent manner. “, remembers Mr. Bodiang.
At the same time, these young tax inspectors created Pastef. Bassirou Diomaye Faye becomes more and more essential to the point of being placed at the head of the movement of executives and the diaspora. In 2019, he is the architect of the Jotna program, supported by Ousmane Sonko during the presidential election which placed him in third position behind Macky Sall and Idrissa Seck with nearly 16% of the votes.
Two years later, in March 2021, the party leader Ousmane Sonko is arrested For ” disturbance of public order », as he went to court accompanied by a mass of activists after being accused of rape by a young employee of a massage parlor. While the government is accused of wanting to eliminate the opponent, his arrest for several days provoked violent demonstrations which left 14 dead according to Amnesty International.
Amputated by his boss, the ex-Pastef turns to Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the faithful right-hand man, who is put center stage. Some time later, the party was restructured and Bassirou Diomaye Faye was promoted to secretary general of the former Pastef. “ He is calm, listens to his colleagues and knows how to make decisions at the right time. », Testifies MP Ayib Daffé who was the interim secretary general of the ex-Pastef during his incarceration.
Attacked on his lack of experience
While he lost in his own municipality during the local elections of January 2022, he is attacked on his youth and his lack of experience. “ He has worked in senior administration for around fifteen years. All those who talk about experienced statesman, they are the ones who put Senegal in this situation. I prefer an inexperienced, but patriotic and hardworking person », replies Moustapha Sarré, head of the ex-Pastef who praises his values and his probity. His detractors, however, accuse him of a rigorous practice of Islam and of links with Salafism. “ I am Muslim and my practice of Islam is a personal practice that I do in my intimacy with God. I do not impose religion on anyone and the State does not have this vocation either », Bassirou Diomaye Faye responded before his election in an exclusive interview given to Le Monde and RFI, while recalling the secularism of Senegal.
From June 2022, Bassirou Diomaye Faye began working on the program for the February 2024 election. But he was arrested in July 2023 for “ contempt of court » after a publication on social networks where he denounces the “ homelessness ” of Justice. A few months later, charges of endangering state security and calling for insurrection were added.
Eleven months of incarceration and an express campaign
Incarcerated for eleven months, he managed to maintain a central role in developing the program for the 2024 election. He managed the work from the prison: he received his collaborators and sometimes he was allowed to call on the telephone », assures Moustapha Sarré.
But his conditions of incarceration deteriorated once he was named a substitute candidate for the presidential election. “ Forty-five days before my release, there was a restriction on visits and I was deprived of telephone access. For example, the program could have been more complete in the explanations “, he declared before his election in the interview with Le Monde and RFI.
In his program, he promises, for example, more justice, less corruption, a better distribution of wealth, more fairness in international relations, to fight against hyper-presidentialism, to guarantee economic sovereignty and carry out monetary reform.
He was finally released on March 14, at the same time as Ousmane Sonko, thanks to an amnesty law initiated by President Macky Sall. As they exit, in the middle of the electoral campaign, jubilant crowds accompany them, shouting the slogan “ Diomaye moy Sonko, Sonko moy Diomaye » (Diomaye is Sonko, Sonko is Diomaye).
Together, they embark on an express electoral campaign across the country aboard a caravan which will tour Senegal at a run and which attracts crowds. They end with a closing meeting on Friday March 22 in Mbour, his region of origin. On election day, he voted in his native village in the company of his two wives. That same evening, people came out en masse to celebrate victoryliving up to the immense expectations and hopes placed on the shoulders of the youngest President of the Republic elected in Senegal.
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