Tax inspectors to poultry boss: Senegal’s presidential candidates | Politics Information

Senegalese voters have a crowded discipline of 19 candidates to choose from once they vote this month to elect a brand new chief to switch President Macky Sall in a decent election whose delay sparked issues for the way forward for democracy within the West African nation.

The vote on March 24 will happen after Sall’s try to postpone the election, initially deliberate for February, was overturned by Senegal’s prime election authority after weeks of violent protests.

The ruling by the Constitutional Council has been welcomed by many within the nation – however observers have warned it will not be the final twist within the saga. Already, a number of politicians have petitioned the courts to postpone the election anew, claiming the appliance course of for the candidates was flawed.

“Each week you have got a brand new sort of scandal – that is Senegal,” mentioned Ndongo Samba Sylla, head of analysis and coverage for IDEAs, a community of political and financial analysts. “There might be new developments” within the days forward, he cautioned.

In the meantime, candidates are left with lower than two weeks to win over voters in the course of the month of Ramadan, a interval normally devoted to non secular reflection and worship fairly than politics.

Right here’s a have a look at the principle candidates — and a standard thread that binds a few of them:

Bassirou Diomaye Faye

The 49-year-old tax inspector is the candidate of an opposition coalition that features members of the dissolved PASTEF social gathering of Ousmane Sonko, a firebrand politician and fierce critic of Sall.

Sonko, who got here third within the 2019 presidential election, was extensively seen as the preferred candidate for this 12 months’s vote. However the opposition chief was detained in July after being convicted of “morally corrupting” the youth and was later barred from operating over libel costs. Faye has been nominated by Sonko as his successor.

Sonko, like Faye, was a tax inspector.

Faye will search to capitalise on Sonko’s recognition, particularly amongst Senegal’s unemployed youth. Three out of 10 Senegalese aged 18 to 35 are unemployed. Youth joblessness is a matter additional exacerbated by the velocity at which the inhabitants grows – it doubles each 25 years, based on Afro Barometer information.

However Faye has been in preventive detention since April, even whereas his face adorns T-shirts of opposition supporters, who’ve chanted his title at marketing campaign rallies. He’s anticipated to be launched quickly as a part of an amnesty legislation.

“Freed or not freed, the vast majority of Senegalese has already made their selection. Who desires to vote for Faye will vote for him,” mentioned Thiaba Camara, president of the civil society group Demain Senegal.

Faye has known as for the institution of a brand new nationwide forex; the renegotiation of contracts between the federal government and companies in sectors starting from power and mining to fishing; and a discount of presidential powers, together with the reintroduction of the vice presidency. He has additionally pledged to equally distribute earnings out of a gasfield that’s anticipated to start out manufacturing this 12 months.

Amadou Ba

A former prime minister, Ba was additionally as soon as a tax inspector. Ba is the presidential candidate of Sall’s Alliance for the Republic social gathering. He ran the Ministry of Finance and Financial Planning from 2013 to 2019 and was the nation’s prime diplomat in 2019 and 2020.

A Ba victory would imply coverage continuity with the earlier authorities, one thing that may seemingly guarantee overseas buyers and assure a cohesive fiscal response at a time when Senegal wants the assist of the Worldwide Financial Fund, which authorised a $1.8bn mortgage in June.

However as a result of the 62-year-old was a part of Sall’s authorities, he faces public dissatisfaction over the rollback of civil liberties beneath the outgoing president. Dozens of individuals have been killed and greater than 1,000 jailed within the political turmoil of the previous three years.

“Ba is perceived because the candidate who embodies the outdated system, one which by no means disconnected from buildings established since independence,” mentioned Hawa Ba, the top of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

Khalifa Sall

One other presidential hopeful is Dakar’s two-time mayor (no relation to the president).

The extensively in style politician was jailed for 5 years in 2018 on costs of fraud, which his supporters mentioned have been politically motivated. The conviction barred him from operating within the following 12 months’s presidential election, during which he was seen as a robust competitor to Macky Sall.

Following a presidential pardon, the previous lawmaker, who skilled as a instructor, was freed in 2019.

Sustainable improvement has been central to Khalifa Sall’s electoral marketing campaign. He has mentioned he desires to deal with accountable water administration and equitable land distribution. Greater than 70 p.c of Senegal’s inhabitants lives off agriculture and the livestock sector.

Idrissa Seck

Till April, Seck was the top of the Financial, Social and Environmental Council.

The 63-year-old gained 21 p.c of the vote within the 2019 presidential election, ending second within the race. After the vote, his Rewmi social gathering joined President Sall’s ruling coalition.

Reviews prompt Seck and Sall fell out after the previous declared his opposition to anyone looking for a 3rd time period, alluding to the latter’s suspected ambitions. Seck additionally argued that Sonko ought to have been allowed to run within the 2024 election.

Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne

Prime minister from 2014 to 2019, Dionne served because the chief of the Central Financial institution of West African States and the United Nations Industrial Improvement Group. The company’s mandate is to assist financial progress in creating international locations and economies in transition.

He’s a pc engineer by coaching. Dionne has pledged to be a “president of reconciliation” if elected and has pushed for “financial sovereignty” for Senegal.

Anta Babacar Ngom

Ngom is the one feminine candidate and can be the primary girls to function Senegal’s president if elected. A political newcomer, the 40-year-old runs Senegal’s largest poultry firm, which was based by her father.

She has mentioned she desires to spice up the personal sector, promote free healthcare and reform the schooling system, together with including native languages on prime of French.