By all accounts, on 2 April 2024, Bassirou Diomaye Faye will be sworn in as the fifth democratically elected president of Senegal. His election is expected to be a decisive first round victory in a contest that had been marred by the decision of Macky Sall, his soon-to-be predecessor, to delay the elections arbitrarily earlier this month. The narrative around Faye’s election has been dominated by a repudiation of Sall’s presidency by the people who carried the latter to power 12 years ago, as well as Faye’s youthfulness and his recent stint in prison. In a region that has recently seen young heads of state, albeit through military coups and not through the ballot box, this is a victory that many will rightly see as a testament to the values of democracy in a region sorely missing.
By all accounts, on 2 April 2024, Bassirou Diomaye Faye will be sworn in as the fifth democratically elected president of Senegal. His election is expected to be a decisive first round victory in a contest that had been marred by the decision of Macky Sall, his soon-to-be predecessor, to delay the elections arbitrarily earlier this month. The narrative around Faye’s election has been dominated by a repudiation of Sall’s presidency by the people who carried the latter to power 12 years ago, as well as Faye’s youthfulness and his recent stint in prison. In a region that has recently seen young heads of state, albeit through military coups and not through the ballot box, this is a victory that many will rightly see as a testament to the values of democracy in a region sorely missing.
