Sworn in as Senegal’s youngest president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye
Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as president, capping the hitherto unknown opposition figure’s extraordinary rise from prison to the palace in just a few weeks.
After storming to a resounding first-round victory in the March 24 elections on a platform of change, the left-wing pan-Africanist was sworn in on Tuesday. He is Senegal’s youngest president at 44 years old.
Faye made the following declaration at Diamniadio, close to Dakar, “Before God and the Senegalese people, I swear to faithfully fulfill the office of president of the Republic of Senegal.”
Furthermore, he pledged to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the constitution and the laws” in order to preserve “the integrity of the territory and national independence and to spare no effort to achieve African unity”.
The presidential palace in Dakar will host the official transfer of power with departing President Macky Sall.
Faye was freed from prison less than two weeks before the vote, along with prominent opposition figure and mentor Ousmane Sonko, after Sall’s political amnesty announcement.
In West Africa, a region plagued by coups and attempted coups, Senegal’s standing as a stable democracy was put to the test by the election. It came after months of upheaval sparked by Sonko and Faye’s arrests last year and worries that the president will run for office again in defiance of the constitution’s term restrictions. Rights groups said that over 1,000 people were arrested and scores of people died during the protests.
Faye ran on pledges to combat corruption and better manage Senegal’s natural riches. His win was viewed as representing the desire of young people dissatisfied with chronic unemployment, as well as the former colonial master France, which opponents saw as exploiting its ties with Senegal for profit.
In his first address as president-elect, Faye is also known as Diomaye or the honourable one in the native Serer language, pledged to combat corruption and modernize the economy.
