Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye as its president, finishing the beforehand little-known opposition determine’s dramatic ascent from jail to the palace in simply weeks.
The left-wing pan-Africanist was sworn in on Tuesday after sweeping to a first-round victory within the March 24 elections on a pledge of reform. At age 44, he’s Senegal’s youngest president.
“Before God and the Senegalese nation, I swear to faithfully fulfil the office of president of the Republic of Senegal,” Faye mentioned in Diamniadio, close to the capital, Dakar.
He additionally promised to “scrupulously observe the provisions of the constitution and the laws” and defend “the integrity of the territory and national independence and to spare no effort to achieve African unity”.
The formal handover of energy with outgoing President Macky Sall will happen on the presidential palace in Dakar.
Faye was launched from jail lower than two weeks earlier than the vote together with fashionable opposition determine and mentor Ousmane Sonko after a political amnesty introduced by Sall.
“It’s the culmination of a long struggle for democracy and the rule of law,” mentioned Aissata Sagna, 39, a manufacturing facility employee who labored on Faye’s marketing campaign. “This is a day of celebration for us, even if we have lost young people killed during the demonstrations.”
The election examined Senegal’s popularity as a steady democracy in West Africa, a area that has skilled coups and tried coups. It adopted months of unrest ignited by the arrests final yr of Sonko and Faye and issues that the president would search a 3rd time period in workplace regardless of constitutional time period limits. Rights teams mentioned dozens of individuals had been killed within the protests and about 1,000 had been jailed.
Faye campaigned on guarantees to scrub up corruption and higher handle Senegal’s pure assets. His victory was seen as reflecting the need of younger folks annoyed with widespread unemployment and former colonial ruler France, seen by critics to be utilizing its relationship with Senegal to complement itself.
In his first speech as president-elect, Faye – generally often known as Diomaye, or “the honourable one” within the native Serer language – promised to struggle corruption and reform the economic system.
A working towards Muslim from a small city, Faye has two wives, each of whom had been current on Tuesday.
Earlier than the election, he launched a declaration of his property to point out transparency and referred to as on different candidates to do the identical. It listed a house in Dakar and land exterior the capital and in his hometown. His financial institution accounts totalled roughly $6,600.