Barely a week after his clear victory with more than 54% of the votes in the March 24th presidential election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been installed as president of Senegal on Tuesday.
At 44, Mr Faye is Africa’s youngest democratically elected leader and the fifth for an independent Senegal.
Taking the oath of office the new leader declared: “Before God and before the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfil the office of President of the Republic of the Republic of Senegal, to observe as well as to conscientiously abide by the provisions of the Constitution and the laws, to devote all my power to defending the constitutional institutions, the integrity of the territory, national independence and to spare no effort to achieve African unity.”
As a stand-in Plan B replacement for disqualified opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, whose candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Council, Faye was sworn in at the Diamniadio Exhibition Center, some thirty kilometers outside the Senegalese capital Dakar.
The ceremony was witnessed by ten African heads of state and government and heads of regional and international institutions.
Faye’s investiture climaxes at the presidential palace in Dakar on Tuesday afternoon with the official transfer of power from his outgoing predecessor Macky Sall.
The two met last Wednesday to discuss terms of the handover in the presence of Ousmane Sonko, who is described as the new president’s mentor.
Poll postponement
The assumption of office of Senegal’s fifth president is the epilogue to a turbulent electoral process which was rich in unexpected twists and turns.
Initially scheduled for February 25, 2024, the presidential election was postponed indefinitely by Macky Sall ten hours before the supposed start to the electoral campaign.
Sall had blamed an institutional crisis between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council for the poll postponement.
After the publication, in January, of the final list of 20 candidates after an initial sorting which made it possible to retain 21 out of 93 application files, accusations of corruption named two constitutional judges.
The liberalist Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of Karim Wade whose candicacy was rejected was the orginator of the accusations. With the support of deputies in the ruling majority, the liberals obtained the installation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry and by Monday February 5, the National Assembly adopted a law postponing the presidential election until December 15, 2024.
Postponement overruled by Constitutional Council
But this referral was overruled by the Constitutional Council following a referral from some of the candidates.
The electoral judges immediately asked the outgoing president to set a new date as soon as possible.
Committing to carrying out the decision of the seven constitutional sages, President Sall called for consultations at the end of which June 2nd 2024 was proposed for holding the postponed vote.
It was also proposed to the president to remain in office until his successor was installed.
By Monday March 4, President Sall received the recommendations of the national dialogue which he immediately submitted to the Constitutional Council.
Twenty-four hours later, the seven sages canceled the recommendations from the national dialogue and set the date of the presidential election for March 31.
Taking note of the council’s decision, the under-pressure Sall then announced March 24 as election day and set the duration of the campaign at 15 days which the constitutional council accepted.
The PDS took the presidential decrees before the Supreme Court for scrutiny but failed in its quest to have them overturned.
Rejected, the liberals decided to support Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who ultimately emerged victorious in the presidential election against Amadou Bâ, the candidate handpicked by outgoing President Macky Sall.
AC/fss/as/APA