She persuaded her friends and family to vote for a major change in government. And on Friday, 22-year-old Aminata Fay stood in front of a stadium in the Senegalese city of Mbour, listening to the opposition politician and presidential candidate who inspired her in the final stages of a heated election campaign. I was waiting for
“They're the only ones saying they're going to change the system,” said Faye, a college student.
The West African nation of Senegal will vote for a new president on Sunday in an election that many young people see as an opportunity to overhaul the political and economic order. And it was a nail-biting run-up.
Last month, incumbent president Macky Sall called off the election with three weeks remaining. And in the end he agreed to keep it. Then, last week, he suddenly jailed Ousmane Sonko, a militant rebel figure many consider his nemesis, and Basilou Diomai Faye, a man Sonko is supporting as a presidential candidate. He was released from prison.
After some whiplash-inducing twists and turns, many Senegalese are relieved that elections will even be held at all, and that their widely praised democracy still appears intact so far.
There are 19 candidates in total, but many experts believe the election will be a run-off between Fay and the ruling party's candidate, Prime Minister Amadou Ba. Public opinion polls are prohibited in Senegal during elections, so there is no concrete information on which side has an advantage.
But if you ask most young people who they support, they'll probably mention Sonko, whose name doesn't even appear on the ballot.
On Friday night, thousands of young people flocked to Mbour Stadium to see him as the vuvuzela horn rang out. Cleaner Binta Cisse, 30, looked around at a sea of T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of Sonko and his candidate, former tax inspector Fay, 43.
“We can see ourselves in them,” Cissé said.
The movement took place at a breakneck pace during Ramadan, when most people in the Muslim-majority country fast during the day. At night, political convoys rolled through the sandy streets of the coastal capital, Dakar, playing music, shouting slogans and handing out leaflets. Posters depicting politicians' beaming faces were hastily pasted on roadside billboards.
Prime Minister Ba hastily resigned from his post to go on a campaign trail. Mr. Fay, a disciple of Mr. Sonko, set out on a journey soon after being released from prison. He had been detained on charges of defamation and contempt of court after accusing magistrates of persecuting Mr Sonko.
Senegal, the westernmost country on the African continent, has seen its neighbors such as Mali to the east and Guinea to the south overthrown in coups in recent years.
But Senegal is different, observers say.
There has never been a coup d'état. The country's powerful Sufi Brotherhood, a Muslim community led by respected spiritual leaders, is seen as a stabilizing force. The country's military prides itself on not getting involved in politics.
Experts say that although Senegal has been seriously damaged by Mr. Sall's rise to authoritarianism, the country's reputation as an outpost of democracy in a crisis-hit region has been maintained.
But Senegal faces many of the same problems that have plagued its West African neighbors, including persistent poverty, a lack of education and a lack of jobs, especially among young people. These are the issues that are likely to be at stake in this election, and are the main reasons why Mr. Sonko has such enthusiastic support from young people.
For the past 10 years, Ramin Ndao, 35, has watched Senegal's economy grow under Sall's government. Large oil and gas fields have recently been discovered and major infrastructure projects have been completed. But he was left behind, he said.
I have been looking for a job for 10 years since I graduated with a degree in tourism from university in Dakar. And he said most of his friends are in the same situation, except for one who has joined the ruling party.
“If you have political connections, you can get a job,” he said a few days before the election, as shiny SUVs rolled down Dakar's busiest roads. “Do you think that's fair? It's not.”
Young people like Ndao played a vital role in securing Sall's presidency.
Sall's predecessor, Abdullahi Wade, started out as an ardent defender of democracy, promising change and running for president four times, winning twice. He then ran for a third term in 2012, arguing that the Constitution's two-term limit did not apply to him. But a vibrant youth movement persuaded hundreds of thousands of young Senegalese to turn out to vote, and Wade lost to Sall.
Twelve years later, in February, many Senegalese said they were surprised to see Mr. Sall try to call off the election. They were also stunned to see police remove opposition members from parliament in order to pass a bill confirming the suspension.
Mr Ndao, an unemployed college graduate, said he voted for Mr Sall in 2012 but was so disillusioned in 2019 that he didn't bother voting. He wants to build a life in Senegal, but he has no choice but to risk his life to Europe on a rickety ship or follow the thousands of West Africans trying to immigrate to the United States by taking a circuitous route through Nicaragua. He said he was thinking about it.
He said he hopes that doesn't happen. “He and all his friends are pinning their hopes on Mr. Sonko, a man who has made a career out of accusing prominent politicians of corruption, promising change and criticizing elites.”
No one can vote for Sonko, who was barred from running after being accused of rape by a young massage parlor employee and convicted of defamation and corruption of minors. Therefore, they will vote for Mr. Fay instead, Mr. Ndao said.
As the sun set on Tuesday evening in the Dakar suburb of Waqam, young volunteers from Sonko's party handed out free dates and coffee to Muslims breaking their fast.
Bus driver Basil Faye, 24, who coincidentally shares the same name as the presidential candidate of Sonko's party, said he had no interest in Sonko in the 2019 election. Sonko came in third place with 16% of the vote.
But this time, Mr Fay said he would travel 100 miles to his hometown of Bambay just to vote for Mr Sonko's candidate.
“I started following and supporting him because of all the injustices he faced,” he said.
Mr. Fay and Mr. Sonko have promised major economic changes, including renegotiating oil and gas contracts and reforming or leaving the regional currency, which is pegged to the euro.
Analysts say this could scare off foreign investors in Senegal and slow economic development.
Mr. Ba's supporters say he is a safe pair to continue on the same stable trajectory as Mr. Sall, who many see as having overseen orderly progress.
“He is a calm and gentle person,” said Valérie Kalidou Bonin, 35, an entrepreneur from Kedougou in eastern Senegal. He said he wanted to see a continuation of Sall's program aimed at building infrastructure and improving living conditions in what is known as an “emerging Senegal.” “But that's not the person's problem. It's the project's problem.”
Mr Ndao, a tourism graduate, said his father was voting for Mr Ba along with many older people who woke up early to vote, but many young people did not even have voter cards.
“It's the young people who need change,” he said. “The old ones are leaving.”
