The president of the Liberal and Democratic Party (Pld/And Suqali), Oumar Sarr, takes stock of the legislative elections of November 17 in this interview. The former minister under Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall regretted to note that their place in the nominations of the “Takku-Wallu Senegal” coalition did not sufficiently take into account the representativeness of their party. “The electoral campaign carried out was also not commensurate with our coalition,” insisted the mayor of Dagana. For the outlook, the former coordinator of the Pds affirmed that the Pld decided, during its National Council last December, to give priority to the development of training. He welcomed the fact that the President of the Republic had raised the question of the rationalization of parties.
Your party participated in the legislative elections with the “Takku-Wallu Senegaal” coalition. What assessment do you draw from this election which saw the victory of Pastef?
Our party had sovereignly decided, during its National Council of July 6, to join the “Takku-Wallu Senegaal” coalition whose head of list was President Macky Sall. To answer your question, I would like to talk first about the results for our party and then about the understanding we have of Pastef’s victory. For our party, it was important that the opposition constitute a coalition and a strong inter-coalition. Unfortunately, this was not the case, because the inter-coalition did not really work. But our place in the coalition nominations did not sufficiently take into account the representativeness of our party.
In certain departments, the inauguration of the mayor or the leader of our party would have been a definite support. The same goes for the national list. The electoral campaign was also not commensurate with our coalition.
Pastef won the elections with more than three quarters of the deputies, helped by the weight of the majority vote. They also kept a major decision of the Constitutional Council under wraps, which allowed them to have more time than the others to prepare for the elections.
In the end, their victory is not overwhelming at all. It is the electoral system that allowed them to have so many deputies. It should also be noted that despite the significant contribution of transhumants, in particular mayors recruited in recent weeks, 400,000 voters who voted for Bassirou Diomaye Diomaye during the presidential election did not come to vote for Pastef in the legislative elections. This is a significant fact.
Faced with the deterioration of the economic situation and what seems to be an unpreparedness for the management of the country, the temptation is great for the Pastef government to take advantage of this victory to trigger a repression of opponents with a view to silencing critics. This risks, in particular, transforming the necessary and fair accountability into an enterprise of score-settling or revenge. Which, obviously, will not fail to arouse resistance. Unfortunately, we can fear turbulence in timescales that may be shorter than we think, if the various actors do not demonstrate discernment and objectivity.
What are the prospects for your party? Will you continue to stay in coalition with the “Takku-Wallu” parties?
We decided, during our National Council last December, to concentrate our efforts on the development of our own party, which is a priority. We have resumed the sale of cards and the installation of structures that we had to suspend because of the presidential and legislative elections.
On a political level, we want to put at the center of our political strategy the triptych that defines our party: political liberalism, United States of Africa and constructive dialogue. Political liberalism is the battle for democracy and collective and individual rights, the right to demonstrate, the right to vote, the right to organize, etc.
Everyone talks about pan-Africanism today, but the content differs from one party to another. For us, in concrete terms, it means the progressive formation of a continental government and, already, the transformation of ECOWAS into a confederation or federation. We plan to organize a series of contradictory conferences open to all those who agree to discuss these fundamental questions with us. Finally, our method remains constructive national dialogue with a view to constantly improving democracy, cohesion and stability in our country as in all of Africa.
During the National Council that I spoke to you about earlier, we discussed the need to move beyond micro-parties without ambitions and to create large government parties. We need to think about the theme of regrouping the parties to achieve a government opposition, informed of the issues and ready to govern. We dream of building a grouping like the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS) of yesteryear, on the basis of an ambitious but realistic agenda, without any conditionality. Concerning “Takku-Wallu Senegaal”, it was an electoral coalition. Today, its only visible face is the Tws parliamentary group. We are considering the establishment of a united opposition front in the coming weeks.
-The National Assembly was installed on December 2, 2024 and the Prime Minister made his general policy declaration (Dpg) on December 27. How did you enjoy this exercise?
When we compare the content of the Prime Minister’s Declaration and the adopted finance laws, there are obvious inconsistencies and contradictions. Some MPs and experts have demonstrated this and it is important that clear answers are given to the questions asked by MPs and other stakeholders on this issue.
In these two declarations, it is true that there are several propositions, but, as they say, it is necessary to “separate the chaff from words and the grain from things”. The main thing is to find the right method so that reforms are shared and bring progress. The national dialogues helped a lot in finding consensus. We will see whether the new power takes this path or not.
How do you judge the Head of State’s New Year’s speech, in particular, his desire to rationalize political parties, to continue the reform of Institutions, to generalize the declaration of assets to all civil servants?
Concerning the heritage declaration, many proposals from the National Dialogue have already been materialized. The number of taxable persons has increased significantly, and the sanctions for non-declaration have been clarified. It often amuses me when I see the authorities boasting, saying that all the ministers have submitted their declarations. It has become an obligation under penalty of severe sanctions since law 2024-07 of February 9, 2024 amending law 2014-17 of April 2, 2014. This important law was passed late, on the eve of the election campaign. presidential election of 2024, and there has not been, unfortunately, much communication on the subject.
The President of the Republic is now considering generalizing the obligation to all civil servants. I am not sure that this is justified or that we are equipped to properly handle all of these statements. It will probably be necessary to redefine the status of Ofnac, its budget, its means and working procedures. In my opinion, the number of taxable persons is already very significant since the promulgation of the new law. As they say, “he who kisses too much, hugs badly”.
In my opinion, it is illusory to put an end to the corruption of political authorities if we do not simultaneously address the issues of party financing and the control of electoral expenses.
On the need to limit the exponential development of political parties, in fact, the entire political class is already in agreement. The opposition at the time, including Pastef, had made proposals as well as the presidential majority of “Benno Bokk Yaakaar”. The National Dialogue had requested that law 81-17 of May 6, 1981 relating to modified political parties be replaced by a new law and that the conditions for creating and controlling parties be reviewed to limit their proliferation. This is the sine qua non condition for establishing an effective and viable financing system for political parties.
Proposed laws and decrees were made available to the Ministry of the Interior during the last political dialogue. The electoral campaigns linked to the legislative elections of 2022 and the presidential election of 2024 did not make it possible to finalize this discussion. It is, in my opinion, excellent that the President of the Republic is raising this problem today.
Interview conducted by Oumar KANDE
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