In Senegal, Aïssata Tall Sall, new leader of the opposition

She was quick to sound the charge. Monday, December 2, during the first session of the new Senegalese National Assembly, Aïssata Tall Sall livened up a previously dull day and imposed a standoff on the majority. At the time of the election of the office of the new legislature, she refused to give in to the injunctions of the President of the Assembly, El Malick Ndiaye, to propose a woman’s name for the position of eighth vice-president.

Brandishing the internal regulations of the hemicycle, she supported the right of the opposition to give the name of its choice. Then, letting the majority take all the vice-presidents, she pushed her parliamentary group to leave the Assembly and promised legal action.

This parliamentary return is in the image of this politician well known to the Senegalese. Former apparatchik of the Socialist Party, lawyer, several times minister, M^me Tall Sall is known for loving righteousness and emphasis. She was chosen by her comrades to chair the Takku Wallu Senegal parliamentary group, from the coalition led by former President Macky Sall in the legislative elections on November 17.

The only opposition bloc in a National Assembly largely aligned with the party of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef), Takku Wallu Senegal totals 16 deputies out of 165. “Highlighting it does not allow us to initiate generational renewal. But given our complicated situation, it was the obvious choice so that the opposition could be heard”estimates an executive from the Alliance for the Republic, member of Takku Wallu Senegal.

“A gifted, ambitious, tough politician”

Installed in her law office, just a few meters from the National Assembly, M^me Tall Sall receives dressed in one of her elegant modern boubous which shape her public image. At the entrance to his office, a poster of the film Bamako by Abderrahmane Sissako recalls that she played the role of a committed lawyer. Serene, she promises “a firm but constructive opposition”.

Despite the scathing defeat of her camp on November 17, the 66-year-old MP does not seem more worried than that. She saw others, for example when the Socialist Party, of which she was then a rising figure, lost the presidential election for the first time, in 2000, after having been at the head of the country since independence.

“It was former president Abdou Diouf who got him started. He saw in her a gifted, ambitious, tough politician.”remembers Abdoulaye Vilane, socialist executive. In 1998, Mr.^me Tall Sall suffers from his first ministry: communication. A few years later, she sought to take the helm of the old socialist house. A step forward which would have allowed him to consider competing in a presidential election. Las. She fails to dislodge the indestructible Ousmane Tanor Dieng.

“Being a woman probably didn’t help me. Within the party, I never stopped fighting to emerge”she remembers. In 2019, she abandoned her political family and joined President Macky Sall. The latter rewarded her with two royal posts: minister of foreign affairs, the first woman to occupy this post, then minister of justice.

Accused of compromising

“It is also through the practice of the legal profession that she became knownadds El Hadj Amadou Sall, tenor of the bar, who wore out the benches of the law faculty with M^me Tall Sall. She defended many political leaders, notably under the regime of Abdoulaye Wade, which contributed to her prestige. » M^me Tall Sall also likes to recall her origins in Fouta, the conservatism of her family environment, her battle to complete her law studies and her attachment to her hometown of Podor, of which she was mayor from 2009 to 2022.

“Some find that, since she was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, we no longer see her much, but she maintains a strong popularity, especially among women”, underlines a local associative actor. “In her time, women in politics were rare. She has been a source of inspiration for many young Senegalese women”adds Abdoulaye Vilane.

But the disappointments against him are as high as his popularity. At the start of 2024, in the midst of a political crisis, the then Keeper of the Seals defended the amnesty law, a controversial text. The criticisms are flying. M^me Tall Sall is accused of compromising with a management team that contravenes the values ​​she holds as a lawyer and activist.

“I assumeshe asserts. An amnesty law is always divisive. It was about bringing social peace to the country. » To those who are now calling for the repeal of the law to allow the opening of an investigation into the repression of the demonstrations which left several dozen dead, she responds in the negative. From the leadership of the opposition, can she prepare to represent her political camp in the next presidential election, in 2029? M^me Tall Sall smiles, kicks in but does not deny: “I learned to fight one fight after another. »