The first election Bassirou Diomaye Faye ever won was the one that just made him president-elect of Senegal.
Before his election victory last Sunday, 10 days after he was released from prison, Mr Faye had only run for mayor of his hometown of Ndiaganiao – a small settlement on a dirt track, criss-crossed by horse-drawn carts carrying women and their wares. to the market. He lost that 2022 election to the ruling party’s candidate.
Few in Senegal know the remarkable journey of the 44-year-old tax inspector who rode a wave of youth discontent to become Africa’s youngest elected president once inaugurated. Preliminary results officially released on Tuesday showed he won with 54 percent of the vote.
But through interviews with family and friends in Ndiaganiao and the remote village where he grew up, a picture emerged of a studious, loyal, curious and sometimes stubborn man, rooted in Senegalese traditions and his Islamic faith, with a deep understanding of the predicament he faces. his country’s legion of frustrated youth.
“He didn’t come from nowhere,” Diomaye Faye, the uncle for whom he is named, said in an interview at the president-elect’s home, a neat, modest complex where a large, impromptu party was held Sunday evening. He added: “This family is not new to governing.”
Mr. Faye’s ancestor, a hunter, was the founder of their village centuries ago. His grandfather was the village chief and one of the African soldiers drafted by France to fight in World War I before he was seriously wounded in battle. When he returned home, his grandfather fought to establish the first secondary school in Ndiaganiao – a struggle that posed such a threat to colonial-era administrators that it landed him in prison.
“Bassirou grew up in an environment where people fight for the rights of others,” the elder Diomaye Faye said of his cousin.
Standing up for his political ally got Mr Faye jailed. He was jailed last April over a Facebook post criticizing the government for its prosecution of Ousmane Sonko, Senegal’s main opposition politician.
Mr. Sonko was barred from running for president after being convicted of defamation and corruption of a minor (he was accused of rape but acquitted on these charges). So Mr. Sonko appointed Mr. Faye as his proxy.
At the time, Mr. Faye was locked in a small cell where he slept, ate, showered and exercised with three other inmates. He spent ten months in that prison cell, from which he began his bid for the presidency.
But few knew Mr. Faye’s. The two men immediately campaigned together and tried to change that. The goal seemed to be to make their names synonymous, and it may have worked: On election day, many young people said they were “voting for Sonko.”
Mr. Faye describes himself as someone who doesn’t normally talk much. But when he got out of prison and realized how much support he and Mr. Sonko had, he wanted to thank everyone personally, he said.
“When I saw the number of people who came out, I wanted to give them all a hug,” he said in a lengthy interview with Senepeople, a local media outlet, last week, “and say sorry for all the trouble you had. face it.”
In many ways, Mr. Faye comes across as a typical young Senegalese man, passionate about Facebook, who often wears wireless earbuds and seems more comfortable in a traditional kaftan than in the tailored Western-style suits worn by his predecessor, Mr. Sall, preferred.
According to his childhood friend Mor Sarr, until his time was consumed by politics, he was an avid footballer. He recently played in a team of tax inspectors in the capital Dakar. Like many young people in soccer-mad Senegal, Mr. Faye is a fan of the Spanish team Real Madrid, Mr. Sarr said.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye (pronounced BASS-ih-roo jo-MY FIE) grew up in a house with more than 10 adults and a bunch of kids he ran around with, according to his uncle. But he was often reading; a favorite according to Mr Sarr was Dale Carnegie, the American author of ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’.
“He is young in years, but not in intelligence and behavior,” said Mr Faye’s father, Samba Ndiagne Faye, 92, also a former village chief, as he sat in the cool of his curtained living room with some village elders. Both he and his father entered politics, both were in the ruling party.
Samba Ndiagne Faye was often away from home due to his political activities, an absence that deeply affected the newly elected president.
“He hated politics,” said Mr. Sarr, who said he grew up with Mr. Faye, shared a room with him at university in Dakar and introduced him to his first wife.
Rumors that Mr. Faye is “an Ibadou” — local parlance for a fundamentalist Muslim — are false and politically motivated, Mr. Faye’s family and friends said.
“He’s religious, yes, but less religious than I am,” Mr. Sarr said, laughing. “I don’t dance. He dances. I don’t listen to music. He does.”
Mr. Faye has two wives. Polygamy is common in Senegal, including among its ethnic group, the Serer.
“Being married to two women is a sign of responsibility,” said his older brother, Ibrahima Faye. “He’s very proud of being polygamous, and he doesn’t hide it.”
He has four children with his first wife, one of whom is named Ousmane, after Mr Sonko. He married his second wife, who lives and works in France, early last year. The couple saw each other only once between their wedding and Mr. Faye’s arrest. The next time they were together was during the campaign, Mr. Sarr said.
Mr Faye and Mr Sonko have emphasized Senegal’s sovereignty over France, its former colonial ruler, and the need to replace the French-backed currency. The uncle compared his nephew’s political agenda to the American Federalist leaders’ quest for independence from Great Britain.
“The battles they are fighting now are the battles that Madison, John Jay and Hamilton fought,” he said.
Before the election, Mr Faye gave up his assets, an unusual move for a politician in West Africa. The list included a house in Dakar – built on land given to him by the government as part of a land allocation program for civil servants. It also included a field a few kilometers from Ndiaganiao, where the president-elect grows fruits and vegetables to sell.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Sarr kicked at the cracked earth around Mr Faye’s papaya orchard, which has suffered since he went to prison.
“Not enough water,” he said.
Mr. Faye planned to quit his job as a tax inspector to concentrate on politics and agriculture, Mr. Sarr said. But that was back when almost no one knew who he was.
The Senegalese are quickly learning who Mr. Faye is.
Nineteen-year-old Baye Laye Ndiaye was taking selfies on the Faye grounds on Tuesday morning. Mr Ndiaye, who travels the country on mobile phones, had asked for directions to the house just to see where his new president was from.
Last year, Mr. Ndiaye was one of about 1,000 people jailed in connection with protests that followed Mr. Sonko’s arrest. He said he had been walking down the street wearing a plastic bracelet with the word PASTEF on it, the name of the opposition party founded by Mr Sonko. That was enough to get him locked up for three months.
He was thrilled to discover that Mr. Faye’s roots were humble and not so different from his own.
“Senegal needs presidents who have this kind of background,” he said, looking around at the peeling paint and cracked tiles. “Diomaye knows the suffering people face”
Mady Camara reporting contributed.