Senegalese voters will elect a new president on Sunday after a tumultuous political crisis. There are 17 candidates vying to succeed President Macky Sall, with the four main candidates being Amadou Ba, Bashir Diomai Faye, Idrissa Sek, and Khalifa Sall. be. Prime Minister Amadou Ba, 62, the ruling party's candidate and the preferred successor to Sall, is a former minister of economy, finance and foreign affairs. Ba portrays himself as the candidate of stability who will continue the current government's economic policies and restore calm after political turmoil. His campaign focuses on youth employment, pledging to create one million jobs by 2028 through public-private partnerships and investments in agriculture, industry, infrastructure and renewable energy. Mr. Ba is also committed to reviewing the state's contracts for natural resources, providing financial benefits to seniors, and accelerating the construction of a national arts and crafts school.
Bashir Diomae Faye, 44, replaced opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was disqualified from elections in January. Fay, co-founder of the opposition party Pastev and recently released from prison, has limited time to devote to his campaign. Fay advocates for regaining Senegal's sovereignty by replacing the CFA franc with a new currency and by making English education more widely available. Fay wants to implement institutional reforms, including renegotiating mining and hydrocarbon contracts, reviewing defense agreements, creating a vice presidency and establishing mechanisms to monitor presidential power.
The other main candidates are former Prime Minister Idrissa Sek and Khalifa Sall. The former, 64, served under former President Abdullahi Wade from 2002 to 2004 and is currently running for his fourth consecutive presidential election. Drawing on his extensive political experience, Seck has proposed a number of policy initiatives, including mandatory military service, the creation of a common currency for West African countries, and the creation of a fund funded by oil and gas companies to compensate for fishing losses. ing. industry. The latter, 68-year-old Khalifa Sall, is a prominent politician who is attempting to run for president again despite having no connection to the outgoing president. In 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine for fraud and embezzlement, and was disqualified from the 2019 presidential election. However, he later returned to politics after being pardoned by the president and having his civil rights restored. Mr. Sall, leader of the Taxau-Senegalese coalition, has cast himself as a candidate who can foster national healing. He has launched a citizen-led referendum and pledged to allocate at least 1 trillion CFA francs (equivalent to 1.5 billion euros) a year to agriculture.
