At age 44, Bassirou Diomaye is set to become Africa’s youngest democratically-elected President.
On Sunday, March 24, the husband to two wives won the first round of Senegal’s presidential election leaving his opponent, Amadou Ba to concede defeat in a public statement.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye has found his way to the seat of the Presidency. His story to the rise of the Presidential seat caps a rollercoaster period. Few months ago, Diomaye was in jail on charges of defamation and contempt of court. He was released 10 days prior to the day of the elections.
The former tax collector had a cordial relationship with his ally and kingmaker, Ousmane Sonko, the former opposition leader.
Diomaye opted to become the general secretary of PASTEF in February 2021 after Sonko was arrested, being accused of repeated rape by a massage parlour employee.
Diomaye was initially just a guest at the PASTEF party but rose to prominence and became one of the huge political figures in the PASTEF party.
The party in 2023 endorsed Faye as its candidate before getting dissolved when Sonko was barred from running the presidential race when he was in jail.
Despite legal battles against his presidential bid, Sonko was absent from the presidential list. Faye’s candidacy was approved while still in detention as he had no prior convictions. Sonko quickly endorsed Faye for the presidential election.
A day after being released from prison, on March 15, Faye made his first public appearance as a potential presidential candidate, drawing hundreds of fans.
Faye ran under the slogan “Diomaye mooy Ousmane”, which means “Diomaye is Ousmane” in Wolof, and hoped Sonko’s charisma and popular appeal amongst Senegal’s youth would boost his campaign. Amazingly, Sunday’s first round results rewarded his tactic.
Although the national election body has not yet disclosed the results, Ba’s concede came after local media reported that Faye had secured over 50% of the vote, eliminating the need for a rerun.