BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – His Majesty King Mswati III, Her Majesty the Indlovukazi congratulate His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Faye on emerging victorious in the Senegal Presidential election.
Senegal’s President-Elect Faye (44) was named the country’s next president yesterday (on Monday). Following the results, His Majesty the King commanded Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini to congratulate President Faye. In doing so, the PM took to his Facebook page.
“I have it in command by His Majesty King Mswati III to extend our heartfelt congratulations on behalf of His Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, the Government and the People of the Kingdom of Eswatini, to His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Faye on emerging victorious in the Senegal Presidential election,” Dlamini said.
He said the Eswatini remained confident that as the President-Elect embarked on his new term in office, the Republic of Senegal would continue to prosper and make significant strides towards peace, stability, development and that Faye would steer the Senegalese nation to even greater heights.
“In joining the Senegalese Nation in this joyous occasion, we express our firm belief that the cordial relations that exist between our Nations will continue to be enhanced and strengthened for the benefit of our People,” he said.
What is interesting is that the President-Elect, according to the Associated Press (AP), was elected less than two weeks after being released from prison to run in the election. While official results of Sunday’s vote were not yet available, the former Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, who was the other frontrunner, and who was backed by incumbent President Macky Sall, conceded defeat based on preliminary results. Sall followed with congratulations, also naming Faye as the winner.
Both Sall and Ba are said to have congratulated Faye for being victorious. Sall is said to have thrown Senegal into disarray earlier this year when he tried to postpone the Senegalese elections to be held towards the end of the year.
The elections on Sunday followed months of unrest, said to be ignited by Faye and Ousmane Sonko’s arrest last year, and concerns that the President would seek a third term in office despite constitutional term limits. Sonko was backing Faye to be the next Senegal’s President. Sonko was released on March 14, while Faye was released about two weeks later.
The violence shook Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region that has seen a wave of coups. Rights groups said dozens were killed in the protests, while some 1 000 people were jailed.
The expected winner of the election, Faye is a former tax collector and was little known until Sonko named him as his heir.
His roots, according to the AP, lie in a small town in central Senegal. He is a practicing Muslim, and has two wives. Ahead of Sunday’s election, Faye published a declaration of his assets, and called on other candidates to do the same. It lists a home in Dakar, and land outside the capital and in his hometown. His bank accounts hold roughly E124 835.70 ($6 600).
