A brilliantly written post-election reflection on #Senegal by colleagues who capture the sentiments of Senegalese, and indeed, African young people, regarding democracy and respect of the rule of law. Worth a read!
Business and Economic Intelligence| Doctoral Candidate | Contemporary Affairs Writer
I had the pleasure of co-authoring a piece for BBC News with Nic Cheeseman wherein we wrote about how newly elected Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye's improbable electoral victory will potentially serve as a source of hope and inspiration for Africa's majority youth population as well as opposition leaders that their aspirations and desires can still be attained through democratic mechanisms, despite events in recent years that have called into question its' viability across Africa. We highlighted that, the constellation of an active civil society, mobilised population and strong institutions were key to ensuring that the political overreach measures undertaken by former president Macky Sall did not allow him to extend his rule and allowed for the emergence of the West Africa's youngest elected head of state. Nevertheless, we also cited that despite the wave of goodwill and optimism towards them, Faye and his newly appointed prime minister Ousmane Sonko must avoid the pitfalls encountered by Sall and former president Abdoulaye Wade, who both came to power through democratic breakthroughs but subsequently reneged on those ideals, which led to their respectively unceremonious departures from power. #bbc #democracy #elections #senegal #westafrica https://lnkd.in/eZTh5ZjE
