The electoral campaign ended Friday evening. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the candidate nominated by Ousmane Sonko, the opponent excluded from the presidential race, chose the town of M’bour. A large and very young crowd was there.
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An excited youth took place on Friday March 22 in the evening in the Caroline Faye stadium in M’bour, located about a hundred kilometers south of Dakar. The average age is barely 25 years old to support Bassirou Diomaye Faye, candidate of the opposition party Pastef in the presidential election in Senegal, which takes place on Sunday. “This is the future! We are the ones who must take overexplains Abdoulaye, who could not miss this last meeting. The youth are aware and they are ready to take responsibility to change the country.”
What is striking is the anger that inhabits these young people looking for a break. “We, the youth, are tiredsummarizes Coumba, a student. Life is expensive. There is a regime that has been there for twelve years. We want everything to change. Youth is emigrating, youth is dying, parents are tired, teachers are tired, nothing is changing. We want change and change is the youth revolution.”
“Our fear is fraud”
The anti-system candidacy is embodied by Bassirou Diomaye Faye, right-hand man of Ousmane Sonko, the opponent who was excluded from the vote after being sentenced to two years in prison closed for “minor debauchery”. Faye, who himself recognizes being a plan B for the Pastef party, brings to the eyes of this youth the hope of a new Senegal. “We are sick of our elitessays Pap, an activist from the start. When you love your country, you put the general interest, the future of the country above everything else. Which we didn’t have.”
“We had self-righteous leaders who used themselves instead of serving.”
Pap, an anti-system activistat franceinfo
“Resolutely, we are determined that this cycle stopsPap slices. We serve ourselves, then we must serve this country.”
These young people are convinced, their candidate will win in the first round, unless the ballot is marred by irregularities. This is Fatoumata’s fear. “Our fear is fraud. If everything goes well, if there is no fraud, I know absolutely that Diomaye Faye will win in the first round. May the best man win!” And it doesn’t matter if Bassirou Diomaye Faye has little political experience: this youth is entirely acquired by him, driven by a very strong desire for change.