From Village to Prison to Africa’s Youngest Elected President

The primary election that Bassirou Diomaye Faye ever gained was the one which simply made him the president-elect of Senegal.

Earlier than his victory within the election final Sunday, 10 days after he was launched from jail, Mr. Faye had solely ever run for mayor of his hometown, Ndiaganiao — a small settlement on a sandy monitor, crisscrossed by horse carts carrying ladies and their wares to the market. He misplaced that election, in 2022, to the ruling occasion’s candidate.

Few in Senegal know the exceptional journey of the 44-year-old tax inspector who rode a wave of youth discontent to turn out to be — as soon as inaugurated — Africa’s youngest elected president. Provisional outcomes formally launched on Tuesday confirmed he gained with 54 p.c of the vote.

However by interviews with household and buddies in Ndiaganiao and the outlying village the place he was raised, an image emerged of a studious, loyal, curious and generally cussed man, rooted in Senegalese traditions and his Islamic religion, with a deep understanding of the predicament going through his nation’s legion of annoyed youth.

“He didn’t come from nowhere,” Diomaye Faye, the uncle after whom he’s named, stated in an interview on the president-elect’s household house, a tidy, modest compound that hosted an enormous, impromptu occasion on Sunday night time. He added, “This household will not be new to ruling.”

Mr. Faye’s forefather, a hunter, was the founding father of their village centuries in the past. His grandfather was the village chief and one of many African troopers conscripted by France to battle in World Warfare I earlier than he was badly wounded in battle. Returning house, his grandfather fought for the institution of the primary highschool in Ndiaganiao — a wrestle that was such a risk to colonial-era directors that it landed him in jail.

“Bassirou grew up in an atmosphere the place folks battle for different folks’s rights,” the elder Diomaye Faye stated of his nephew.

It was standing up for his political ally that obtained Mr. Faye jailed. He was imprisoned final April over a Fb publish criticizing the federal government for its prosecution of Ousmane Sonko, Senegal’s foremost opposition politician.

However few knew Mr. Faye’s. The 2 males instantly hit the marketing campaign path collectively, attempting to alter that. The objective gave the impression to be to make their names synonymous, and it could have labored: On election day, many younger folks stated they have been “voting for Sonko.”

Mr. Faye describes himself as somebody who usually doesn’t discuss very a lot. However when he obtained out of jail and realized how a lot assist he and Mr. Sonko had, he needed to thank everybody personally, he stated.

“Once I noticed the variety of folks popping out, I simply needed to offer all of them a hug,” he stated in a protracted interview with Senepeople, an area media outlet, final week, “and express regret for all the difficulty you needed to face.”

In some ways, Mr. Faye comes throughout as a typical younger Senegalese man, passionate on Fb, usually seen carrying wi-fi earbuds and seeming extra comfy in a standard caftan than within the tailor-made Western-style fits favored by his predecessor, Mr. Sall.

Till his time was swallowed up by politics, he was a eager soccer participant, in response to his childhood pal, Mor Sarr. He performed most lately on a crew of tax inspectors within the capital, Dakar. Like many younger folks in soccer-mad Senegal, Mr. Faye is a fan of the Spanish crew Actual Madrid, Mr. Sarr stated.

Bassirou Diomaye Faye (pronounced BASS-ih-roo jo-MY FIE) grew up in a home occupied by greater than 10 adults and a gaggle of youngsters he ran round with, in response to his uncle. However he might usually be discovered studying — a favourite, in response to Mr. Sarr, was Dale Carnegie, the American creator of “Easy methods to Win Associates and Affect Individuals.”

“He’s younger in years, however not in his intelligence and habits,” stated Mr. Faye’s father, Samba Ndiagne Faye, 92, additionally a former village chief, sitting within the cool of his curtained lounge with among the village elders. Each he and his father went into politics, each of them within the ruling occasion.

Samba Ndiagne Faye was usually away from house due to his political actions, an absence that deeply affected the newly elected president.

“He hated politics,” stated Mr. Sarr, who stated he grew up with Mr. Faye, shared a room with him at college in Dakar and launched him to his first spouse.

Rumors that Mr. Faye is “an Ibadou” — native parlance for a fundamentalist Muslim — are false and politically motivated, Mr. Faye’s household and buddies stated.

“He’s spiritual, sure, however much less spiritual than me,” Mr. Sarr stated, laughing. “I don’t dance. He dances. I don’t hearken to music. He does.”

Mr. Faye has two wives. Polygamy is frequent in Senegal, together with amongst his ethnic group, the Serer.

“Being married to 2 wives is an indication of accountability,” stated his elder brother, Ibrahima Faye. “He’s very pleased with being polygamous, and he doesn’t conceal it.”

He has 4 youngsters together with his first spouse, certainly one of whom is known as Ousmane, after Mr. Sonko. He married his second spouse, who lives and works in France, early final 12 months. The couple noticed one another solely as soon as between their wedding ceremony and Mr. Faye’s arrest. The following time they have been collectively, it was on the marketing campaign path, Mr. Sarr stated.

Mr. Faye and Mr. Sonko have emphasised Senegal’s sovereignty from France, its former colonial ruler, and the necessity to change the France-backed foreign money. The uncle in contrast his nephew’s political agenda to the American Federalist leaders’ quest for independence from Britain.

“The battles that they’re preventing proper now are the battles that Madison, John Jay and Hamilton fought,” he stated.

Earlier than the election, Mr. Faye declared his property, an uncommon transfer for a politician in West Africa. The listing included a home in Dakar — constructed on land that was given to him by the federal government as a part of a program allocating land to civil servants. It additionally included a subject a couple of miles from Ndiaganiao the place the president-elect grows fruit and greens to promote.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Sarr kicked on the cracked earth surrounding Mr. Faye’s orchard of papaya timber, which have suffered since he went to jail.

“Not sufficient water,” he stated.

Mr. Faye had been planning on leaving his job as a tax inspector to deal with politics and agriculture, Mr. Sarr stated. However that was again when hardly anybody knew who he was.

The Senegalese are studying who Mr. Faye is quick.

Nineteen-year-old Baye Laye Ndiaye stood taking selfies within the Faye compound on Tuesday morning. Mr. Ndiaye, who travels the nation hawking cellphones, had requested for instructions to the home simply to see the place his new president got here from.

Final 12 months, Mr. Ndiaye was certainly one of round 1,000 folks jailed in reference to protests that adopted Mr. Sonko’s arrest. He stated he had been strolling down the road carrying a plastic bracelet with the phrase PASTEF on it, the identify of the opposition occasion based by Mr. Sonko. That was sufficient to get him locked up for 3 months.

He was delighted to seek out that Mr. Faye’s roots have been humble, not so totally different from his personal.

“Senegal wants presidents who’ve this sort of background,” he stated, trying round on the peeling paint and the cracked tiles. “Diomaye is aware of the struggling persons are going through.”

Mady Camara contributed reporting.