Senegal’s politicians jostle to replace Macky Sall in delayed vote

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Senegalese go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president in a contentious vote delayed by outgoing leader Macky Sall, whose decision sparked furious demonstrations in a country long regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies.

Nineteen candidates are campaigning to replace Sall, in office since 2012, but only a handful stand a realistic chance of winning power in the west African country of 17mn people.

Former prime minister Amadou Ba, who left government earlier this month to focus on his campaign, is the flag-bearer of the ruling coalition Benno Bokk Yakaar.

A taciturn technocrat who has also served as finance and foreign minister, he is hoping to succeed his former boss Sall, who handpicked him as the ruling party’s candidate despite his lack of experience on the campaign trail.

Ba has shown more bite in recent days, warning voters not to hand over the country to a “saisai”, which means a crook in the local Wolof language.

The remark was widely understood to be referring to his main opponent, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a former tax inspector whose Coalition Diomaye Président is an alliance of groups formed after the government dissolved Pastef, then the leading opposition party.

Pastef was led by Ousmane Sonko, a populist beloved by Senegal’s youth, who came third in the 2019 vote. A defamation conviction last year prevented him from running for office because Senegalese law bars people convicted criminals of running for president.

In stepped Faye, the party deputy and Sonko’s sidekick. Both men were freed from prison last week after months in detention on an assortment of charges.

The economy will be the primary issue in the election. Although national output has grown 5 per cent on average annually under Sall and Senegal continues to attract foreign investment, many feel left behind and youth unemployment is at almost 20 per cent. Many frustrated youths have taken dangerous journeys on flimsy boats to try to reach Europe without entry visas.

Other leading candidates include former prime ministers Idrissa Seck and Mahammed Dionne, and former mayor of the capital Dakar, Khalifa Sall (no relation to President Sall). Anta Babacar Ngom, a prominent business executive, is the only woman in the race.

An ally of Ba told the Financial Times that the government camp was confident of victory. But Makhtar Niang, a 37-year-old insurer in Dakar, said he would vote for the opposition candidate Faye because he “embodied the future” in a way that Ba, a member of the establishment, did not.

He said Faye’s promise of public sector transparency, a review of contracts in the nascent oil and gas sector as well as a reform of the judicial system and a limitation of the powers of the presidency “speaks to millions of Senegalese”.

To secure the keys to the towering seaside presidential palace in Dakar, a candidate needs to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round. If no one wins outright, the top two candidates face each other in a run-off.