After hours of waiting, the procession finally sets off amid a hubbub of horns, whistles and slogans. Under a dusty blue sky, the mercury reads 35°C in the shade. Dozens of green and red cars, the party colors, hundreds of backfiring scooters, not forgetting pick-ups overflowing with activists blowing trumpets, parade through the sandy streets of Hann Bel-Air, a commune in the northeast. from Dakar, this Sunday afternoon.
This movement, brimming with enthusiasm, is a “caravan” of Pastef (African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity), the party brought to power in the first round during the presidential election of March 2024 , campaigning for the legislative elections of November 17.
“I love everything he does”
Faced with around forty lists, the party, very popular among young people, is mobilizing its strong forces, particularly attached to the Prime Minister, the charismatic and ebullient Ousmane Sonko. “I love everything he does, absolutely everything, says, radically, Dié Sarr, a teenager wearing the khaki military pants of the female branch of the party, “the Amazons”. However, she recognizes that she “couldn’t say precisely what she likes”. “He brought something new,” she adds as the tambourines and maracas of the procession resonate.
Aliou Bousso, student and activist, is a little more precise: “Sonko was a true statesman and not just another businessman. He puts the interests of the country before his personal interests. »
Samba Seck, involved with Pastef since 2019 and night watchman, agrees. “I support Sonko because he embodies the anti-system. Macky Sall’s ministers (the former head of state, Editor’s note) stuffed their pockets full of it. They strut around in luxury cars. However, people die because they do not have 60,000 CFA francs (€45) to pay for their dialysis or even 15,000 CFA francs (€10) to buy medicine. » “That would never happen in France, he laments. We only see this in Africa and we are fed up. »
“For a comfortable majority”
An anti-corruption, almost populist rhetoric, on which the party happily surfs. “Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the President of the Republic, and Ousmane Sonko, are what Senegal was missing: upright and just men. They never dipped into the coffers. They are incorruptible,” says Oumar Alioune Kane, communications manager at Pastef. Promises him systemic changes “after the elections”. “I am 100% confident: we will have a comfortable majority”, assures Justin Correa, Pastef coordinator in the region.
However, the two men at the head of state have not had much to their credit in the almost eight months that they have been in power, struggling to escape from a single posture of opponents. They certainly presented an ambitious project for the economic development of the country, Senegal 2050, focused on taking control of contracts with foreign companies and industrialization.
But the Senegalese are still waiting for them to meet the immense expectations of a very young population, particularly regarding the equitable distribution of wealth, purchasing power and employment. A large part of the population struggles daily to find work and make ends meet. Hundreds of young people continue to leave each month in canoes bound for the Canary Islands and Europe, risking their lives.
A verbal escalation between leaders
This atmosphere of tensions, uncertainties and polarization did not spare the campaign, punctuated by violence between Pastef and opposition activists. The headquarters of an opposition party was set on fire and knife attacks took place in the Saint-Louis market. The leaders, far from calming the ardor, engaged in a verbal escalation, Ousmane Sonko going so far as to call for “avenge” attacks against his sympathizers. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, he declared before calling for appeasement twenty-four hours later.
Invectives and violence do not seem to dampen the enthusiasm and determination of the activists present in the party “caravan”. Mamas, young people, children chant in chorus “Diomaye is Sonko, Sonko is Diomaye”, spinning around the neighborhood for hours, loud speakers and banners fluttering in the hot wind that blows across the city.
—–
More than 40 lists
The legislative elections will take place in a single round, on November 17, renewing the 165 seats of the unicameral Parliament for five years. More than 40 lists are presented, with four more well-known political movements. On one side, the ruling party, the African Patriots of Senegalfor work, ethics and fraternity (Pastef), led by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. On the other hand, the three opposition parties, led respectively by Macky Sall, by former Prime Minister Amadou Ba and by the mayor of Dakar, Barthélémy Dias.
