Senegal: an election fraught with danger

3.1M

Erwan DAVOUX, former project manager at the Presidency of the Republic, has advised numerous right-wing political figures internationally.

In Senegal, following several unusual decisions by the Constitutional Council (rarely has the expression «government of judges» been so justified), the presidential election will finally be held in two weeks. The official campaign, which has already begun, will therefore be short and will take place during the month of Ramadan. Karim Wade (PDS) will not be able to run.

The former Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, appears to be off to a bad start. Abandoned by all the officials of the APR (the presidential party), the few days of campaigning are unlikely to allow him to make up for his deficit behind the Pastef candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who will represent in this election Ousmane Sonko, who remains imprisoned and whose candidacy was not accepted.

It is therefore an election with heavyweights prevented from competing and in less than optimal conditions that is about to take place, something that the outgoing president, Macky Sall, wanted absolutely to avoid. In an opinion piece published by the newspaper «Marianne» «French diplomacy would be well advised to spend more time on Senegal, I was urging French diplomacy to take a greater interest in the presidential election in Senegal because of the historical ties between the two countries and shared values. Stéphane Séjourné, whose only concern seems to be Ukraine, has completely removed this major country from his field of vision. Let us also remember the importance of the Senegalese diaspora in France and the importance of the French community in Senegal.

Today, the leading candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has made two major proposals: the abolition of the post of Prime Minister and the creation of the post of Vice-President, elected at the same time as the President himself—so, the American way... And the creation of a new currency, meaning withdrawal from the CFA franc. A wind hostile to France is blowing through Senegal, which French diplomacy has done nothing to counteract. The population's mindset is similar to that prevailing in the three countries from which France has been driven out: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. If this bleak prospect should materialise, France will not have been taken by surprise and the DGSE will not make a convenient «scapegoat». It will have only its own total lack of strategy to blame.