The party of Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is poised to win a commanding legislative majority following elections Sunday. Faye won the country’s presidential election in March but lacked a parliamentary majority, prompting him to call snap elections in September. (AP)
Our Take
This election outcome caps a remarkable year for Faye, as well as his PM, Ousmane Sonko. The two started 2024 as imprisoned opposition figures and will end it atop a government with an absolute legislative majority to enact its agenda.
The popular mandate they have received as anti-establishment figures can seem surprising from the outside, since Senegal was seen as a darling of the West under former President Macky Sall, who was in power from 2012 to 2024. Sall was simultaneously a forceful advocate for the Global South on the international stage and a reliable interlocutor for France and the West in Africa.