His name is on everyone’s lips, sung, chanted, his face on t-shirts, caps. And yet, at the first major meeting of his coalition on Sunday March 10 in Dakar, opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye does not take center stage: he is still behind bars.
No matter, a compact crowd of thousands of sympathizers filled a sandy football field in the Parcelles assainies district, in the north of Senegal’s capital. A few found an advantageous vantage point by climbing onto the goal crossbar. Others follow the meeting from the roof terraces of surrounding buildings. “Everyone came to show our strength, to show that we are the majority in the country,” explains Abdourahmane Sankhare, a 30-year-old science teacher, calmly.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, anti-system opposition candidate, has been in prison for almost a year for “contempt of court”. Secretary general and founding member of the dissolved Pastef party, he is one of nineteen candidates in the presidential election now set for March 24 after having been postponed.
Speculation is rife about an upcoming release from prison thanks to a recently passed amnesty law or provisional release, but the campaign began without him. His supporters met on Sunday repeat it again and again: the important thing is the project and not the candidate. The fact that he is still detained, “that motivates us even more,” assures Ramatoulaye Diédhiou, a 28-year-old assistant. “Anyway, if he’s elected, he’s not going to govern from prison! “, she emphasizes. “Our wildest dream is to see him come out of prison and go straight to the presidency,” says Abdourahmane.
Ousmane Sonko, the great absentee
Another major absentee from the coalition rallies: Ousmane Sonko, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, also in prison, and whose candidacy was invalidated. He called to vote for his comrade in struggle Bassirou Diomaye Faye, tax and estate inspector like him. His face appears on virtually all coalition materials, opposite that of the official candidate, with the slogan “Ousmane mooy Diomaye” (“Ousmane, it’s Diomaye”, in Wolof). “When Ousmane says that everything that belongs to the people must go to the people, that speaks to me. That there will be more justice, that also speaks to me,” explains Ramatoulaye.
On Saturday, the coalition executives presented their program to the press, with several strong measures: the disappearance of the post of prime minister and the creation of a post of vice-president, the eventual birth of a national currency in place and place of the CFA franc and the renegotiation of hydrocarbon contracts whose production is due to begin in 2024. “Our program is long and rich. We won’t have enough ten years to implement everything,” says Fary Yague, a 26-year-old student in the fifth year of transport logistics. “We will need fifty years in power,” she says, smiling.
Most of the supporters we met said they were convinced of a victory in the first round. According to political analysts, the election promises to be very indecisive and no one is guaranteed to be in the second round.
The candidate of the presidential camp, Amadou Ba, who claims the results of President Macky Sall’s twelve years in power, was to make a trip to the outskirts of Dakar on Sunday, before his “campaign opening meeting” on Monday in Mbacké, 200 kilometers away. east of the capital. The former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall and the former prime minister Idrissa Seck, also cited as contenders, have also started to meet voters.
On Sunday evening, campaign clips of the candidates began to be broadcast on public television. Except that of the Bassirou Diomaye Faye camp, which had been recorded by his campaign director: the media regulatory council justified this decision by arguing that this airtime is reserved for candidates only.