When numbers are missing, faces, gestures and attitudes can be used as clues. Sunday, July 31, around 10 p.m., while the results of the legislative elections held that day were played polling station by polling station on Senegalese radios, laughter and hugs were to be found at the headquarters of the opposition. “The Dakar region is folded. Thies and Ziguinchor too. Saint-Louis is favorable. We are raiding all the towns in the country and in the diaspora,” rejoices an executive of Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW, “liberate the people”), the main opposition coalition, focused on its “anti-fraud platform”, where the results of the polls are compiled in real time.
The renewal of the 165 seats in the National Assembly is at stake for this last electoral test before the presidential election, scheduled for February 2024. “Ooh there, I can’t breathe, it’s too much for me”, laughs a curvaceous little woman, when the procession of Barthélémy Dias, the new mayor of Dakar elected last January, arrives, ready to parade through the streets of the Senegalese capital, of which he will also remain a deputy… This time elected under the colors of the opposition.
Here, everyone has only one word in their mouth, “cohabitation”, and its corollary: the end of the presumed ambitions of President Macky Sall to run for a third term at the head of Senegal, on which the main interested party maintains the vagueness. “We will appoint the Prime Minister, the government and perhaps leave some ministries of sovereignty to Macky. In any case, he can start packing his suitcase. Now let’s celebrate in the streets before the others! », said Momar Thiam.
smiles forced
A few kilometers away, the huge headquarters of Benno Bokk Yakaar, (BBY, “united for the same hope”), the movement in power, looks like an ocean liner at the terminus of a rather sad cruise. Smiles are required, journalists a little less welcome. Aminata “Mimi” Touré, the head of the list beaten in her polling station in Kaolack, does not look triumphant. “So far, it’s not that bad,” briefly drops the former prime minister who led the BBY campaign before joining a new meeting room. “We are in the lead, even if we are no longer in the days of Soviet scores”, swears a source defining himself as “unauthorized”. The deputy and lawyer El Hadji Diouf, known in particular for having defended tooth and nail the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré during his trial in Senegal, pleads in front of the entrance to the building. “That we lose in Dakar, it’s not a surprise but you will see the comeback when the campaign votes arrive”, assures the one whose last famous client is none other than Adji Sarr, the young masseuse who accused the very pious and popular opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, of “rapes and death threats”. From the street resonate a few mocking honks.
Then, as the night has settled deeply over Dakar, BBY calls a press conference and joins the positioning war. “We won thirty out of forty-six departments. This definitely gives us a majority. Our victory is without appeal. proclaims in front of the cameras “Mimi” Touré, whom many saw on the perch after the vote. Inevitably, his declaration ignites the spirits of the opponents.
“Power at bay”
“vulgar lie” Barthélémy Dias immediately retorts on private radio RFM. “Cohabitation is inevitable. You lost this election at the national level. (…) This forfeiture will not pass”, he promises. A press release from “leadership conference” of YAW follows to take in particular “ national and international opinion against any attempt to manipulate the results”. This one calls “also all Senegalese to stand up for securing the victory of the people”.
The electoral game is taking on the appearance of a post-electoral crisis. In Senegal, elections are never without incident but, for more than twenty years and the recognition by President Abdou Diouf of his defeat against the opponent Abdoulaye Wade, an unwritten tradition has been that the loser recognizes his defeat in the evening. even voting. She apparently lived.
Late Monday afternoon, one of the leaders of YAW, the former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, estimated that the “victory is no, no doubt” in front of “power at bay. » According to the calculations presented by one of his lieutenants, Déthié Fall, the intercoalition formed with the movement grouped around former President Abdoulaye Wade would obtain “when we speak to you” 83 deputies, or just the majority of the 165 seats. Another opposition leader then came to deliver a direct message to “ these Westerners who do not stop adulating this president because he promised them contracts (…) The Senegalese people no longer want this president! (…) It is time for them to realize this! »
“A breakthrough of the opposition”
On the side of BBY, Pape Mahawa Diouf recognized “a breakthrough of the opposition”, but the head of communications for the ruling coalition insisted: “We will have at least 83 deputies and will remain in the majority “.
“It’s the worst scenario, when everyone announces their victory and refuses the idea of their defeat”analyzes a diplomat on the spot, predicting the rapid entry into play of religious dignitaries and local notabilities so that a solution can be found. “If people go out this time, maybe they won’t go back,” says this source again.
Whatever the outcome of these legislative elections, a narrow victory of power or a cohabitation which would oblige him to appoint a government which is hostile to him, Macky Sall appears today as the first loser of the legislative elections. “There is a real risk that he will be paralyzed for the entire end of his mandate”, warns a local observer. As for the prospect of a candidacy for a third term, contrary to the spirit of the constitution, and with highly inflammable potential, it has never seemed so compromised.
The provisional official results, then the final ones proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, are expected by the end of the week.