Senegal’s New President Was Unknown, but ‘This Family is Not New to Ruling’

The primary election that Bassirou Diomaye Faye ever gained was the one which simply made him the president-elect of Senegal.

Earlier than his victory in the election final Sunday, 10 days after he was launched from jail, Mr. Faye had solely ever run for mayor of his hometown, Ndiaganiao — a small settlement on a sandy monitor, crisscrossed by horse carts carrying ladies and their wares to the market. He misplaced that election, in 2022, to the ruling get together’s candidate.

Few in Senegal know the outstanding journey of the 44-year-old tax inspector who rode a wave of youth discontent to develop into — as soon as inaugurated — Africa’s youngest elected president. Provisional outcomes formally launched on Tuesday confirmed he gained with 54 % of the vote.

However by means of interviews with household and associates in Ndiaganiao and the outlying village the place he was raised, an image emerged of a studious, loyal, curious and typically cussed man, rooted in Senegalese traditions and his Islamic religion, with a deep understanding of the predicament dealing with his nation’s legion of annoyed youth.

“He didn’t come from nowhere,” Diomaye Faye, the uncle after whom he’s named, stated in an interview on the president-elect’s household residence, a tidy, modest compound that hosted an enormous, impromptu get together on Sunday evening. He added, “This household just isn’t new to ruling.”

Mr. Faye’s forefather, a hunter, was the founding father of their village centuries in the past. His grandfather was the village chief and one of many African soldiers conscripted by France to combat in World Conflict I earlier than he was badly wounded in battle. Returning residence, his grandfather fought for the institution of the primary highschool in Ndiaganiao — a wrestle that was such a menace to colonial-era directors that it landed him in jail.

“Bassirou grew up in an setting the place individuals combat for different individuals’s rights,” the elder Diomaye Faye stated of his nephew.

It was standing up for his political ally that bought Mr. Faye jailed. He was imprisoned final April over a Fb submit criticizing the federal government for its prosecution of Ousmane Sonko, Senegal’s foremost opposition politician.

Mr. Sonko was barred from operating for president after he was convicted of defamation and of corrupting a minor (he had been accused of rape however was acquitted on these expenses). So Mr. Sonko named Mr. Faye his proxy.

On the time, Mr. Faye was imprisoned in a tiny cell the place he slept, ate, showered and exercised with three different prisoners. He spent 10 months in that jail cell, from which he began his bid for the presidency.

However few knew Mr. Faye’s. The 2 males instantly hit the marketing campaign path collectively, attempting to alter that. The purpose seemed to be to make their names synonymous, and it could have labored: On election day, many younger individuals stated they have been “voting for Sonko.”

Mr. Faye describes himself as somebody who usually doesn’t discuss very a lot. However when he bought out of jail and realized how a lot help he and Mr. Sonko had, he wished to thank everybody personally, he stated.

“Once I noticed the variety of individuals popping out, I simply wished to provide all of them a hug,” he stated in a long interview with Senepeople, an area media outlet, final week, “and express regret for all the difficulty you needed to face.”

In some ways, Mr. Faye comes throughout as a typical younger Senegalese man, passionate on Fb, typically seen sporting wi-fi earbuds and seeming extra comfy in a conventional caftan than within the tailor-made Western-style fits favored by his predecessor, Mr. Sall.

Till his time was swallowed up by politics, he was a eager soccer participant, in line with his childhood buddy, Mor Sarr. He performed most not too long ago on a staff of tax inspectors within the capital, Dakar. Like many younger individuals in soccer-mad Senegal, Mr. Faye is a fan of the Spanish staff Actual Madrid, Mr. Sarr stated.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye (pronounced BASS-ih-roo jo-MY FIE) grew up in a home occupied by greater than 10 adults and a gaggle of youngsters he ran round with, in line with his uncle. However he may typically be discovered studying — a favourite, in line with Mr. Sarr, was Dale Carnegie, the American writer of “Learn how to Win Mates and Affect Individuals.”

“He’s younger in years, however not in his intelligence and conduct,” stated Mr. Faye’s father, Samba Ndiagne Faye, 92, additionally a former village chief, sitting within the cool of his curtained front room with among the village elders. Each he and his father went into politics, each of them within the ruling get together.

Samba Ndiagne Faye was typically away from residence due to his political actions, an absence that deeply affected the newly elected president.

“He hated politics,” stated Mr. Sarr, who stated he grew up with Mr. Faye, shared a room with him at college in Dakar and launched him to his first spouse.

Rumors that Mr. Faye is “an Ibadou” — native parlance for a fundamentalist Muslim — are false and politically motivated, Mr. Faye’s household and associates stated.

“He’s non secular, sure, however much less non secular than me,” Mr. Sarr stated, laughing. “I don’t dance. He dances. I don’t hearken to music. He does.”

Mr. Faye has two wives. Polygamy is widespread in Senegal, together with amongst his ethnic group, the Serer.

“Being married to 2 wives is an indication of duty,” stated his elder brother, Ibrahima Faye. “He’s very happy with being polygamous, and he doesn’t conceal it.”

He has 4 youngsters along with his first spouse, certainly one of whom is called Ousmane, after Mr. Sonko. He married his second spouse, who lives and works in France, early final yr. The couple noticed one another solely as soon as between their wedding ceremony and Mr. Faye’s arrest. The following time they have been collectively, it was on the marketing campaign path, Mr. Sarr stated.

Mr. Faye and Mr. Sonko have emphasised Senegal’s sovereignty from France, its former colonial ruler, and the necessity to exchange the France-backed forex. The uncle in contrast his nephew’s political agenda to the American Federalist leaders’ quest for independence from Britain.

“The battles that they’re combating proper now are the battles that Madison, John Jay and Hamilton fought,” he stated.

Earlier than the election, Mr. Faye declared his belongings, an uncommon transfer for a politician in West Africa. The checklist included a home in Dakar — constructed on land that was given to him by the federal government as a part of a program allocating land to civil servants. It additionally included a discipline a number of miles from Ndiaganiao the place the president-elect grows fruit and greens to promote.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Sarr kicked on the cracked earth surrounding Mr. Faye’s orchard of papaya timber, which have suffered since he went to jail.

“Not sufficient water,” he stated.

Mr. Faye had been planning on leaving his job as a tax inspector to give attention to politics and agriculture, Mr. Sarr stated. However that was again when hardly anybody knew who he was.

The Senegalese are studying who Mr. Faye is quick.

Nineteen-year-old Baye Laye Ndiaye stood taking selfies within the Faye compound on Tuesday morning. Mr. Ndiaye, who travels the nation hawking cell phones, had requested for instructions to the home simply to see the place his new president got here from.

Final yr, Mr. Ndiaye was certainly one of round 1,000 individuals jailed in reference to protests that adopted Mr. Sonko’s arrest. He stated he had been strolling down the road sporting a plastic bracelet with the phrase PASTEF on it, the title of the opposition get together based by Mr. Sonko. That was sufficient to get him locked up for 3 months.

He was delighted to search out that Mr. Faye’s roots have been humble, not so completely different from his personal.

“Senegal wants presidents who’ve this type of background,” he stated, wanting round on the peeling paint and the cracked tiles. “Diomaye is aware of the struggling individuals are dealing with”

Mady Camara contributed reporting.