Tuesday, 19 November 2024

BURKINA FASO: Legislative elections in Senegal: Presidential boldness versus opposition temerity

 

Voting in Senegal's early parliamentary elections took place yesterday in a calm atmosphere. An atmosphere that contrasted with the poisonous climate that marked the electoral campaign and raised fears of the return of the old demons.

Indeed, the campaign was punctuated by acts of random violence that resulted in the destruction of campaign headquarters, knife wounds, 81 arrests, calls for vengeance but also for calm. It must be said that it was these moderate voices that were heard and that earned the Senegalese a peaceful vote. Let's hope this continues when the results are announced, with the first trends expected on 18 November, while the final count should be announced in a week's time. 


Between the presidential audacity of Diomaye Faye, who dissolved the previous National Assembly, and the opposition temerity of Macky Sall, who wants to take his revenge in this early election that looks like a second round of last March's presidential election, who will triumph? In fact, President Faye's determination to give himself all the institutional means for a bold reform of the Senegalese state stands in stark contrast to the jolts of political survival of former caciques of the system, reckless and vengeful, like Macky Sall from his Moroccan exile.


Without getting ahead of the iguana in the water, more than one observer of the Senegalese political scene believes that of the 41 lists in competition, those of the PASTEF coalition of the Diomaye Faye/Ousmane Sonko duo have a good chance of winning, thus continuing to surf on the real popularity of these young wolves with revolutionary ideas who, in less than 3 years, have been adopted by the majority of Senegalese.


Moreover, during the election campaign, their opponents showed that they only agreed on denouncing the policies of the current President and his Prime Minister. For the rest, their ego of wanting to be caliph instead of the caliph, including against their allies of yesterday and today, remains alive and well. Proof of this is the existence of 3 coalitions of opposition parties. Former President Macky Sall is leading the Takku Wallu Sénégal coalition for these legislative elections; it has been impossible to reach agreement with his former dauphin and former Prime Minister, who has created another coalition, Jamm ak Njarin; the former mayor of Dakar, who is also a former Prime Minister, is leading the Samn sa Kaddu group. And let's not forget the coalition led by the current mayor of Dakar, Barthélémy Diaz.


This proliferation of opposition coalitions, synonymous with the scattering of their voters' votes, reinforces analyses which suggest that the ruling coalition could easily win the 83 seats out of 165 it needs to have a majority in parliament. The President's audacity in dissolving the National Assembly for early legislative elections could therefore reduce to its simplest expression the temerity of his opponents, who have illustrated themselves in grouped barrage attacks against the reforms that the new government wants to implement. They relate in particular to the creation of a post of vice-president, the justice system and the abolition of institutions deemed to be costly.


The suspense will end in a week's time with the announcement of the final results. 1,100 observers from Senegalese civil society organisations and a further 90 from ECOWAS have been deployed to ensure the smooth running of this election, which has a great deal at stake for Senegal.


The editorial staff

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