How will Senegal's new leaders use their legislative landslide?
By Laurent LOZANO
Dakar (AFP) Nov 20, 2024

As Senegal's ruling party heads for an overwhelming majority in weekend parliamentary elections, expectations are high for the new leaders to deliver on their promise of a profound political shake-up.

Eight months after sweeping to power pledging economic transformation and social justice, what are the priorities for the president and prime minister as voters face widespread unemployment and a high cost of living?

- Budget -

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye's Pastef party could hold around three quarters of the seats in the West African country's parliament, according to various media projections.

The new national assembly is expected to start work soon after the results are confirmed, with a delayed vote on the 2025 budget top of the priority list.

Amadou Ba, a prominent Pastef MP, said the budget would bear "the beginnings of transformation" as promised by the government, reflecting their commitment to fighting corruption.

But "you don't have much leeway. It will not fundamentally be a budget of total change", he cautioned, citing "colossal debt" left by the previous administration.

"The first break is already the reduction in the budget" compared with the previous year, Ba said.

The International Monetary Fund suspended a $1.8 billion aid programme after the government said an audit of public finances revealed a wider budget deficit than previously announced.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko accused the former administration of having manipulated financial figures, particularly with international partners.

The new budget will contain amended figures and will aim to keep Senegal as a credible partner, Ba said.

The new leaders have vowed to clean up public finances and said they will broaden the tax base.

"It's going to be a difficult start" for the Senegalese, said El Hadji Mamadou Mbaye, a political science lecturer and researcher at the University of Saint-Louis.

- Judges -

Lawmakers will have one month to elect judges to the high court, a body likely to play a key role in the coming months.

Sonko has repeatedly suggested that former leaders should be held accountable for the three years of deadly political unrest from 2021 until 2024, and for alleged corruption.

The high court can only try the former president if three-fifths of lawmakers vote in favour of his indictment. The judicial body can also try former ministers.

Pastef MP Ba said that lawmakers would meet the deadline to elect judges, but this would not necessarily mean swift action from the court.

- Amnesty -

Another point of contention is the potential repeal of an amnesty law adopted under former president Macky Sall in March.

The law was intended to ease spiralling tensions in the run-up to the presidential election and led to the release of hundreds of prisoners detained during the unrest.

Faye and Sonko were themselves released just 10 days before the vote.

Many Senegalese people have argued that the law exonerates those responsible for three years of deadly violence.

But revoking it would pose political and legal questions, said political science professor Maurice Soudieck Dione, pointing to a potential return to a "crisis situation".

- Major reforms -

Although more toned down now than when they first took office, Faye and Sonko have made a vast range of policy pledges.

These include a constitutional revision to see a reduction in presidential powers, institutional reforms, changes to labour laws, and an overhaul of the tax system.

"Everything has to be redone", said Ba. "Everything is a priority."

He said that the executive would define the priorities but it was the parliament who would decide the timetable.

Political science lecturer Mbaye said he expected to see "strong actions to show the people that we are making a break with the past".

The government says it has begun a wide-ranging review of agreements signed with foreign partners.

A fishing accord with the European Union, which had been in force since 2019, has just expired without being renewed.

Political science professor Dione said that the renegotiation of contracts was a matter for the executive branch.

But Ba said that the parliament could also "ask to be informed about the conditions under which such and such an agreement was signed".

Related Links
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food