In Senegal, the formidable battle for the town hall of Dakar

Large brown, green, blue or purple posters with the effigies of the candidates for mayor of Dakar decorate the streets of the capital of Senegal. Every day, until late at night, caravans roam the different districts. The activists whistle, clap their hands, distribute leaflets to passers-by. The sound systems spit out saturated music. It is hard to ignore that Senegalese voters are being called to the polls on Sunday January 23 to elect their mayors.

This local election – initially scheduled for November 2019 but postponed several times – takes on particular significance at the start of a busy electoral calendar. In addition to the municipal (coupled with the departmental), the Senegalese should choose their deputies in the summer of 2022 before the presidential election at the beginning of 2024.

Sunday’s meeting is also the first electoral test for President Macky Sall since his re-election in February 2019, while doubt still hangs over his possible candidacy for a third term. Opposition and power will not fail to scrutinize the results in an attempt to deduce the balance of power between the two camps.

Logically, the battle is particularly tough in the capital which concentrates more than 20% of the 17 million Senegalese. Dakar City Hall has a budget and significant financial resources: local taxes and levies, public grants, etc.

“Becoming a Presidential Figure”

“Historically, the battle has always been hard in Dakar where the mayor can show his abilities and become a presidential figure”, notes Mohamadou Fadel Diop of the West Africa Think Tank (Wathi). ” First, the mayor can act in many areas and it is also a function that offers visibility, during meetings with the mayors of foreign capitals for example adds the researcher.

The symbolic dimension is important in this city held by the opposition since 2009. Macky Sall is the only President of the Republic who has never had the capital, and whoever wins Dakar wins the presidency “says Barthélémy Dias. The observation is not innocent. Barthélémy Dias is one of the favorites in this election under the colors of Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW).

This coalition brings together in particular the parties of Ousmane Sonko – the rising opponent in Senegal and candidate, him, in the regional “capital” of Casamance, Ziguinchor –, and Khalifa Sall. The latter, former mayor of Dakar, was forced to leave office in 2018 following a conviction for “fraud on public funds”. Conviction denounced as a political act by the person concerned, which made him ineligible.

Barthélémy Dias faces six other personalities including Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, current health minister and majority candidate, Pape Diop, former mayor of Dakar (2002-2009), Doudou Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) of the former president Abdoulaye Wade and the outgoing mayor Soham El Wardini who has been acting since the forced departure of Khalifa Sall.

“Rise to central power”

” We must win Dakar because it is the first round of the 2024 presidential election that is at stake, while Macky Sall remains vague on the question of the third term “, adds Barthélémy Dias.

The opponent hopes that the Head of State will reveal his intentions after the announcement of the results. More than before, the verdict of this local election will be read as a barometer of public opinion. The voting system has indeed changed. For the first time, voters choose their mayor directly. Neither the newly elected municipal councilors who will appoint him.

” Electoral reform weakens the “dictatorship” political parties that choose for the people. This procedure allows more to measure the electoral weight of the candidates as individualities », Analyzes Mohamadou Fadel Diop, from Wathi.

The ruling coalition, Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY), prides itself on its victories in the legislative elections in 2017 and then in the presidential election in 2019. But it criticizes the opposition for giving a national dimension to a local election. ” She wants to use Dakar for her political ascent to central power, but the campaign should not be diverted from this election which is territorial “, explains Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, candidate of the presidential coalition.

“Capital held hostage”

However, the Minister of Health, an experienced politician, highlights his management of the Covid-19 pandemic to convince the people of Dakar, but assures that he will resign from the government if he is elected mayor.

During the previous municipal election, in 2014, Mimi Touré had failed and lost her place as Prime Minister. Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr had been the only candidate of the BBY coalition to conquer a commune in the capital, that of Yoff. ” The consistency of Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr’s municipal program with the public policies of the majority is a strength “, argues Pape Mahaw Diouf, spokesperson for BBY at the national level. He cites the major transformation projects in Dakar carried out by the State, such as the launch of the regional express train or the rapid transit bus (BRT).

“If the town hall is consistent with the state development project for the capital, everything will be even more efficient “, hopes the spokesperson. Conversely, he accuses the opposition of creating blockages and taking “the capital hostage to make it a political instrument”.

The outgoing mayor, Soham El Wardini, is trying to defend her municipal record. A former protege of Khalifa Sall, she created her own party after being ousted from the opposition YAW coalition, which preferred Barthélémy Dias. ” Thinking that Dakar is a folding seat to get to state functions will hamper the work of the city and slow down projects “, worries the one who was the first woman to reach this level of responsibility.

A fear shared by analyst Mohamadou Fadel Diop. ” Other issues such as the territorialization of public policies or decentralization should be discussed, but they are relegated to the background, after the struggle to monopolize power. Senegalese democracy is trapped by electoral issues “criticizes the researcher.