Macky Sall Receives Bassirou Faye as He Promises to Restore Senegal’s “Sovereignty”
President-Elect of the Republic of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44 has been received by the incumbent President, Macky Sall at the presidential palace in Dakar yesterday along side his mentor Ousmane Sonko in what was described as “a courtesious meeting”.
This became imperative after much agitations that visited the election victory of Faye, the main contender figure who was once jailed by Sall.
The provisional results saw Faye winning the first round of the voting process with 54.3 percent leading the candidate of the incumbent President, Amadou Ba, a former prime minister who got 35.8 percent of the vote but later congratulated Faye in what has been perceived as a victory for the democratic process in a country that has enjoyed unbroken transitions of power for a long time.
In February, Sall created a tensed political atmosphere in the seemingly peaceful French colony when he halted the presidential election process in which his raison detre was about “security concerns”.
In a drastic move, Senegalese from home and abroad raised their voices through protests and agitations, but for the intervention of the court of the land, exercising it’s perogatory prowess over the president, a date was fixed for the presidential election which had earlier been shifted to November 2024.
L-R President-Elect of Senegal, Bassirou Faye in a meeting with the incumbent President, Macky Sall on the state of affairs and the handing over ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Dakar, yesterday. Photo credit : AFP
Faye has however promised to restore the sovereignty of Senegal with so much support from the people, looking at a big paradigm shift politically to the left-wing ideology.
The stage is now set for the handing over ceremony and the country has spoken through the ballot, another lesson for other African countries, but time will tell what the one time tax – collector will do with the most powerful office in a country of 18 million people and the global attention being focused on Senegal. Post Tuesday swearing-in will reveal more of Faye, his plans and his direction.
