After four months in office, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko are still enjoying a state of grace, a period of calm that contrasts sharply with the tumultuous circumstances surrounding their accession to power. Both were in prison prior to the country’s presidential election, initially scheduled for February, having been targeted by former President Macky Sall with what many Senegalese saw as politically motivated legal procedures. And were it not for the massive popular outcry in response to Sall’s attempt to postpone the election weeks before it was to take place, it’s possible that both would have watched the voting from behind bars.
As events unfolded, however, both men were released in the runup to the vote, which ultimately took place in March. Faye ran and won as a proxy candidate for Sonko, his mentor and Sall’s leading challenger, who remained ineligible due to his conviction. And upon acceding to the presidency, he immediately named Sonko as prime minister.
Initial Priorities and Successes
If the tandem has enjoyed a honeymoon period since then, it is in part due to the first measures they took upon taking power. These focused first and foremost on social issues, including reducing the prices of everyday consumer goods such as oil, gas, sugar, bread and rice.