power in search of a large majority

The Senegalese elect their deputies on Sunday, November 17, and the country’s leaders aspire to the largest possible majority to implement the agenda of rupture and social justice with which they came to power eight months ago. Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. Paris time) and must close at 6:00 p.m. Reliable projections of the new Assembly could be available Monday morning.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected president in the first round in March. He lacks executive experience, but rose to the top thanks to the enthusiasm and aspiration for change of a young population tested by three years of political confrontation and economic crisis.

His passionate mentor, Ousmane Sonko, who should have been in his place had his candidacy not been invalidated, became prime minister.

For months, these lawyers from one “left pan-Africanism” It led to a conflictive coexistence with an Assembly still dominated by the old presidential majority. Faye dissolved it as soon as constitutional deadlines permitted, in September. Around 7.3 million voters are called to elect 165 deputies who will serve for five years.

The Prime Minister voted in the morning and took the opportunity to call for calm: “Democracy is expressed in peace and stability. And I believe that when we are in democracy there is no place for violence.”.

“People are in the process of (…) elect their representatives in the National Assembly. “He does it calmly, with serenity, in the pure Senegalese democratic tradition.”welcomed President Faye after the vote. “There will always be winners at the end of this election. There will also be losers. But ultimately the winner will be the Senegalese people.”he insisted.

A virulent tone and sporadic violence

Voters must decide whether or not to give the Faye-Sonko duo the means to fulfill their promises: to improve the lives of a population, a large part of which struggles daily to make ends meet, to share with them the income of resources natural resources such as hydrocarbons and fishing that would have been sold abroad, fighting corruption, etc. The cost of living remains a major concern, as does unemployment, which is over 20%.

Historically, the Senegalese align their elections in presidential and legislative elections. Sonko’s party, African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef), is the favorite.

Sonko multiplied during three weeks of campaigning throughout the country, promising projects and investments in the regions where he passed, insulting his adversaries from within, exalting patriotism and national sovereignty in the face of Westerners hostile, according to him, to his government. . . As when he was an opponent, he fanned the embers to the point of demanding revenge against his attacked activists, before softening. Despite the virulent tone, violence was sporadic during the campaign.

On the contrary, the opposition is dispersed, despite agreements between coalitions. Former president Macky Sall campaigned remotely from Marrakech. However, he had vowed to retire from politics after leaving power in March. His supposed heir, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, defeated in the presidential elections, presents his own list. Dakar Mayor Barthélémy Dias caught some light exchanging diatribes with Sonko.

They take up the complaint made by some Senegalese that Mr. Sonko talked a lot and did little. The interested party denies this and defends the state in which he and Faye found the country.